A stormtrooper lost in the Digiworld
by Evil Nazgul
Summary: Its a riddiculous story and I wrote it because my brother and sister REALLY asked me to. He likes SW, while she - DT. Don't hit me too hard, because I'm not a good writer, and English is not my first language. Crossover between Star Wars and Digimon. R
1. Chapter 1

A stormtrooper lost in the Digiworld

A stormtrooper lost in the Digiworld.

I do not own anything. I have written this ridiculous story because my little brother and sister asked me to. My brother likes SW, and my sister – DT. do not beat me too much, because English is not my first language, and I am not a very good writer.

This all started when a squad of stormtroopers under the command of Lord Vader was taking over "Tantiv 4" alderaan corvette. The Emperor himself ordered the capture of the ship, because he had the information, that the plans of his new invulnerable battle station were transported to the Rebel Alliance by this ship. One particular stormtrooper – NZ – 13 was in the middle of an engagement with the enemy, when something odd happened. The fighting in the engine room caused the ion drives to explode. This explosion caused a strange sort of rift to open right behind the trooper, and the explosion of a thermal detonator throws him in the rift…

Meanwhile, in the middle of nowhere (Digiworld), far away from the galaxy, which was thorn apart by civil war, there were three children, accompanied by three digimon. They where going across the big desert, which seemed endless. They were exhausted, because in the desert the Sun was merciless, and there wasn't even a slight shade anywhere.

"Renamon, how long this trip will take? This Sun and the weigh of my backpack are killing me!" Takato moaned.

"How should I know? If the map wasn't been "accidently" lost by you and your lizard-friend over there, we all would know when this torture will be over." answered the fox-like digimon, breathing heavily.

"Hey! Whom are you calling a lizard?" shouted a digimon, who looked like an exhibit from a history museum. His name was Guilmon.

"Now be quiet you three! Stop whining like some little babies!" screamed a not very tall girl in a T-shirt with a broken heart on it. "You make me sick." Her name was Rika.

After that, the group stopped talking and continued their trip in silence. They have walked for hours in this ocean of sand, heat and misery, until they have stopped near the big stone, and decided to have a break. This stone gave them some shade, where they were hiding from the burning rays of the Sun. They have stood there for a hour and fell asleep. The group was tired… They woke up after three hors, because they felt some sort of explosion near their current location.

"Renamon, go to see what happened there!"

"Why it is always me who goes to see what happened Rika?"

"Renamon, that's an order!"

"Fine, fine I'm going I'm going."

With that the overgrown fox unwillingly went to see, what happened. She returned in a minute with an amazed look on her face.

"Well, what did you saw?" asked the 3rd digimon, who looked like a strange green rabbit. Apparently he belonged to the other boy in the group.

"Err, I must be hallucinating. Go take a look yourselves."

All went to see what could possibly be there, with only Rika mumbling something about "Lousy digimon" and "Cant they do anything right?". They saw a portal with a radius of 1.5 meters. It was shining, and it looked like it wasn't stable, was not maintaining an exact form. They stared at it until it disappeared, and when it did, they have noticed a strange humanoid-like creature lying on the ground.

"What is that?" Takato asked.

"Don't know. Let's go and have a look." suggested Renamon.

They have managed to make few steps forward, and suddenly saw the strange figure moving. In a second they all were hiding behind the stone… again.

"Err, Rika, why are we are hiding He is alone and there are many of us." Henry asked.

"We can't be too sure about it. Safety precautions first." Rica replied.

They continued to observe the strange creature from behind the stone… The trooper, who was lying on the ground, finally regained consciousness. He felt a slight pain from his fall, but was in condition to get up and walk.

"Arhh, where am I? Am I dead? What happened?" he asked himself loudly. He hasn't spotted his observers at the moment. He recalled that he was fighting the enemy back on "Tantiv 4". After that his memory was blank.

"Damn, what I supposed to do now? The terrain looks like the terrain of the planet Tatooine". He remembered well the one hell of survival training on Tatooine, where he was carrying 2 "wounded" comrades through the desert. "I should contact the first Imperial patrol squad and go with them to the nearest military facility." But his thoughts were disturbed, because he heard someone's whisper from behind the nearby stone. His helmet had some sort of automatic ear, very sensitive to voice…

"What is that? A digimon?" asked Takato, who just could not hold his mouth shut.

"No, my scanner shows it's not a digimon" answered Rika.

"Then what is that?" asked Renamon.

"I think I know who he is. He is a stormtrooper" said Henry, with a tremor in his voice.

"A storm what?" the whole group gasped.

"A stormtrooper. I remember I once read a book and saw a film called Star Wars. Stormtroopers where the soldiers of the Galactic Empire there, and looked just like him. The Empire was controlled by two evil people and the legions of stormtroopers where under their command. They where called the "Iron fist of the Empire". Also they where known for their loyalty and their unquestionable execution of any orders they might receive. I heard that if they would receive an order to go to a one - way mission, with no chances of survival, they will execute it without hesitation."

"Well, that's creepy. Does that mean the guy is evil or something?" asked Rika quietly.

"Not precisely. They have honestly believed that they are fighting for the better tomorrow of the Galaxy."

"Err, guys! I think we have been speaking too loudly. I think he spotted us." whispered Terriermon.

"Should I eliminate him?" asked Renamon, with a bit of aggression in her voice.

"Only if it is the last resort." responded her tamer.

NZ -13, who heard some voices coming from behind the stone, already reloaded his E-11 blaster rifle, and was approaching the current position of the group. "There might be tusken raiders out there, I better be ready for any surprises." As he approached, he saw a part of the face of Takato, who wanted to see what is going on. "Hm, a child? In the desert? It can't be…" He looked behind the stone, and saw Henry, Rika and Takato.

"What are you doing here child…" he has not finished the phrase, when he saw the digimon, and aimed his blaster because of the reflex. Renamon thought that he was going to fire, and jumped on him from behind to… receive a hit from the soldier's elbow in the stomach and a fist in the face. NZ – 13 turned around and just was going to nail the attacker with a dozen of blaster shots, when Rika jumped between his rifle and the target.

"NOOOO! Stop! She is with us! Don't shoot" she screamed.

"What? That… creature is with you? What is going on here? Who are you, where am I and who are those?" he asked, putting away the rifle. Renamon was already standing behind her tamer rubbing her jaw.

"Excuse me, sir, you are a stormtrooper aren't you?" asked Henry from Takato's back.

"Yes, I am a stormtrooper. But don't change the subject! Where am I?"

"You are in the Digiworld."

"Digi what?"

"Digiworld. And those are digimon. Renamon, Guilmon and Terriermon. They are our partners. My name is Takato, and this is Henry and Rika. What is your name, Mr. Stormtrooper?" asked Takato childishly.

"I don't have a name. My designation is NZ – 13. So, you aren't joking with this Digiworld thing, right?"

"We have told you the truth" Rika replied coldly.

"Great. Now I can't get back to my own reality. Super. But, I have to ask, are you children living here?"

"No, actually, we don't. We originally are from the planet called Earth. We came here with our partners to help our friend, who was captured somewhere in this world, and we are trying to find him."

"Do you need any help with this quest of yours?"

"Well, you see, we are quite…" Rika was going to say her polite "No", when Takato interrupted her and shouted "Sure! Of course! You can come with us." "Oh, never mind" thought Rika.

"Thank you, sir. I will try to prove useful."

"Then here's your first order, soldier! Since we are all very weary, you'll have to carry our backpacks. All them." said Rika with a not so friendly smile.

"As you wish, mistress".

"Oh, and Renamon!" she added.

"Yes?"

"You will get loads of melee training when we get back!"

"But why?"

"For underestimating your opponent."

The group, a part of which now was NZ – 13, continued its trip across the unending desert. The fact that they didn't have to carry their luggage anymore was a real relief. They were walking through the desert a half of a week by now, and at first, when tamers were tired, they gave their backpacks to their digimon to carry, but this march in the desert can exhaust anyone, even the "all powerful" Renamon, who barely walked by now. The Sun was a real torture for her, taking in consideration that she had the fur. Now almost every member of the group was eased. They even had a conversation about something useless, to release the pressure. They all were pretty happy. All, except one. The day was coming to an end; the sun was slowly disappearing behind the line of the horizon. They where marching all day, and were waiting for the night to have a rest. Night came with a pleasant breeze. The night was the only part of the day when they could actually have some decent rest.

"Thank goodness, finally, some rest!" said Henry with a tired voice. "We all should get some sleep; tomorrow will be a long day."

"Wait, who will stay on guard during the night?" asked Terriermon.

"I will." said the stormtrooper, who already put the backpacks on the ground.

"Fine. Well, that's settled. Good night everyone."

Everyone went to sleep, well, almost everyone. The lonely guardsman in the night was thinking. Thinking about his lost reality, and that these children and their … digimon have actually became his purpose to continue living. This is a simple life goal of a soldier – always to have something worthy of risking his life for… He continued patrolling… It was around 03.00, when NZ – 13 heard swift steps behind him. He turned back and saw Renamon.

"Why are you not sleeping?" NZ asked. His helmet gave a metallic sound to his voice.

"I have come to change you on your post."

"You should get back to sleeping, commander. I will continue my duty."

"I'm not tired, and why have you called me commander?"

"Sorry, I forgot… Never mind. You should get back to sleeping. You are a lot more tired than I

"What ever you say." She laid back and after laid minutes she was in the planet of dreams.

The trooper continued his duty… The morning came faster, than anyone would have thought. The mornings meant another long walk, another day of burning hell on the ground, without even a drop of water around. Of course, in the Digiworld it was hard to die from dehydration, because food and water weren't necessary, and hunger or drought didn't existed there, but still no one would say "No" to a cup of refreshing water.

"Oh, is it morning already? Damn that Sun! Anything for some moments of sleep." Whined Rika. It was her every morning ritual: to curse the Sun and to offer anything for some sleep. And, as usual, everyone tried to help her get up. For a "miss little queen of digimon, broken hearts etc." she was quite lazy in the morning, and resisted till the last minute.

"C'mon, can't we just wait for a few more minutes?"

"No, we cannot, it is time to get up! Quit struggling you little!" shouted Renamon while trying to get her out of her dorm sack. "Ritual" was accompanied by screams, so NZ came to see what was going on.

"Hey, can you get this weasel out of the dorm sack?" shouted Takato.

"By applying brute force or by not?"

"I cannot use brute force against my tamer, but you can." said Renamon with an evil look on her face."

"Order received." He walked to the dorm sack, and just pulled the little troublemaker out.

"It is time to get going, little mistress."

"Alright alright I'm going. Did you have to pull me out that hard?" she asked with offence in her voice.

"I had my orders."

"You insensitive machine!"

"Look who's talking." Renamon quietly whispered to others.

"I heard that!"

Everyone was laughing, except one… At last all members were ready for continuing their journey. The luggage transportation was on the shoulders of the stormtrooper, as he silently continued his march, tirelessly helping his new comrades. This day was considerably hotter, than the last one. After four hours of walking, some of the children have begun to fade, and even the naturally strong digimon begun to feel dizzy. Yet, there was always someone, who was able to help.

"Henry! Are you alright? Henry! Answer me!" cried Terriermon.

"He had a solar impact." replied NZ with the same, never changing metallic cold voice.

"We have to revive him! He is slowing us down!" shouted Guilmon.

"He will regain consciousness in 30 minutes. I think we should continue moving." said Renamon.

"Oh, really? And who will carry him? You? You barely stand on your feet yourself!" Rika said loudly. You can guess who carried the boy…

When Henry regained consciousness, he found himself being carried by the same old white-clad trooper. Despite all expectations, the stranger, who came out of the portal, proved extremely useful in overcoming all threads, which cannot be overcome by force.

"So, you are awake. Here, have some water." he heard the metallic voice.

"What happened to me?"

"Solar impact." answered the same metallic voice.

"Oh, I see."

"Can you walk?"

"Everything seems a little blur. Why is the sky purple?"

"Very well. Rest till you regain enough strength to walk."

"Thank you." Henry fell back into slumber shortly afterwards.

They kept going. They knew that it will be even harder to get up, if they will stop now. So they continued this debilitating march. A desert is a potentially deadly environment for unprepared people. But in the world, where the problem of hunger and dehydration has been resolved, the potential danger from the desert was considerably reduced, but still the travel through it will be highly unpleasant to anyone, especially when you travel by foot. It was so hot, that everyone had already forgot where they were going, and just followed the white figure in front of them. "This desert walk is nothing compared to the survival training on Tatooine, but I'm getting worried about my comrades." thought the trooper, and he had reasons for such a thought. While they were going, the fox in the oven a.k.a Renamon was at the limit of the forces. She knew that, but her pride did not allow her to ask for any assistance. So, pride helped her to resist a couple of hours, but when the inner resources of an organism are at an end, no pride can save from the fall.

"Strength… is… at …end. I'm… sorry." she gasped before falling on the sandy ground… Renamon waked up in a few minutes, and felt on her lips… water? She opened her eyes, and saw a bottle of water. In her mouth.

"Grab my shoulder, and try to walk. I'm not strong enough to carry out both you and the boy." she heard the same cold voice. The weary digimon just mumbled something and kept going, only now relying on his shoulder. They had to move on… Finally, another day was at its end. Tired and emaciated, they had stopped, to have another rest before their continuous march in the morning. This time the group was so exhausted, that they all just lay on the ground end slept. All, except one. And that one stood on guard all night. He wasn't thinking about that he is tired. He just was doing his duty. After the strict course in the Imperial Military Academy, normal feelings are or dulled, or taken away. Sense of duty and loyalty – all, that remains. And stormtrooper NZ – 13 of the Imperial ground forces was not an exception.

"Why are you not asleep?" this time it was Rika asking the same question he had to answer the last night.

"The same question goes to you. You almost faded today, so go back to sleeping." the monotonic answer was heard.

"Aren't you tired? You have been doing just about everything it can be done around, and even stay awake and guard during the night, not to mention that you carried two people, well, one Henry and one digimon. You should be tired."

"I'm not tired. And you should trust me on this one, because you can't say if I'm tired or not. You can't see my face. You should care more for your partner, now she is in more drastic shape, than I am."

"Oh, all right then."

The next day the group was sleeping till the sun was too disturbing to ignore. Then they went further. Today it was a rather cold, well, compared to the day before. That is why the walking speed was raised. The trooper, as already usual, was going first in line, carrying the backpacks, and behind were everyone else. But today something happened. When they were proceeding forward, NZ suddenly tripped over a small stone. And after that he didn't get up in two minutes.

"Wait, our trooper has fallen!" shouted Takato.

"So, he really was tired." said Renamon and Rika at the same time.

"Err, can I ask something? Why are his legs moving like he is still walking?"

"I don't know. Are you sure he is not a robot?"

"Well, I'm sure he isn't, but he acts very much alike."

"C'mon wake up! Wake up!" screamed Takato, while shaking his head. Finally, NZ got up. "Are you all right?" asked Henry. "I'm at perfect state" replied the trooper.

"Then, why you have been moving your legs while lying on the ground?" asked Rika.

"It is called the "sleep-walker". It allows us to sleep while moving. It is very helpful during long marches, and is the basic discipline in the survival training. When you are performing this, you achieve the state, close to the sleep-walking. It is helpful in preserving the energy."

"Wow, that's … amazing." everyone gasped.

"It is good to be you." Guilmon said.

"No, it is not." the mechanical voice replied.

While they continued the trip, there was some whispering behind the back:

"I wish I could do this sleep-walking thing like he does." whispered Renamon to Rika, with envy in her voice.

"Well, if you ask him really nice to teach you, then maybe he would."

"Or you can order him to teach me."

"Yes, that is correct, how I forgot about that…"

"A soldier always follows his orders." Henry entered the discussion.

"That training of his must have been really severe. He is acting like a mechanism. Now he has orders to help us with the trip, I wonder how he'll act when we give him an order to attack." Rika replied.

"Well I don't. He'll just become a merciless soldier ready to attack anything. From the mountain to the defenseless child." Henry whispered, with a grim look on his face.

"Good thing he is on our side, huh?" said Guilmon quietly.

"One trooper is not a big thread, after all, he is only a human, but, if what Henry said was correct, there are legions of soldiers like him, and that could be really menacing." Rena whispered.

"Look who's talking again! You have already received from him a couple of hits when you first encountered him from behind! And he was going to shot you with his rifle, and I don't know how your fur would have protected you from blaster fire." Rika whispered angrily. "And why are we are discussing him anyway? So far he has proven himself as an excellent ally, who is always vigilant, prepared, and who will willingly take on any task. You know, you should all be really ashamed of yourselves."

"Yep, you're right, we are now."

They were lucky that their object of discussion was "sleep-walking", and didn't hear a thing.

Another day was going to end, when the squad saw something on the horizon. It looked like a mountain chain, and since it was not a hallucination, it was considered a great event – after all, it meant that the painful trip will soon be over. Caught by the euphoria, they haven't stopped for a night break, and marched tirelessly the whole night… At last, the accursed desert was behind them.

"Ahhhh, thank goodness this is over! Goodbye, desert! I hope I will never see you again!" Takato and Guilmon shouted happily.

"Quit shouting you two! We will have to cross it again when we'll return, if we'll return." Rika said; she hated when someone was too happy.

"Oh, whyyyy? We will have to get in this hell again?"

"Yep, hopefully this won't be anytime soon."

"Anyway, let's get some sleep. The mountains will wait for tomorrow."

Note to anyone that might read this story: I know that there was a little chance that a stormtrooper could defeat a digimon in a melee combat. For information – the guy was from the infamous 501st legion, also known as "Vader's fist". I just find the film, where the stormtroopers were clumsy good – for – nothing soldiers preposterous.


	2. Chapter 2 The Mountains

Stormtrooper lost in the Digiworld Chapter two. The Mountains.

This is the second chapter. I was not able to satisfy my sister's and brother's imagination with just one chapter. That is why I am continuing this somewhat lame story. Anyway, if there are some people who actually read this, besides my annoying two little relatives, they are asked to live any constructive critical reviews. It would be much appreciated.

A mountain is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain in a limited area, with a peak. A mountain is generally steeper than a hill, but there is no universally accepted standard definition for the height of a mountain or a hill although a mountain usually has an identifiable summit. But this is only a brief description of a mountain for people, who don't get away from home. Because there won't be enough words to describe the majestic beauty of a mountain chain. But, yet again, some people see a mountain chain as a piece of art to behold, some people se in the mountain a powerful force that is not to be tangled with, and some – just another obstacle to overcome. Most of the group was busy gaping at the mountain, as they have managed to make their way towards its foothold.

"Oh my gosh! It is so high! I can't believe that we are going to clime this mountain!" said Takato loud enough for anyone to hear.

"If we are going to save our friend, we'll have to overcome this… really BIG… HIGH… SCARY… mountain chain… Oh my, I think I'm afraid of height… Great. Just great. Who knew I was scared of high elevations? What should I do?" Rika whined to Renamon, who was her personal psychologist of some sort, because Rika was afraid to admit her weaknesses to someone else. This plea was not heard by anyone besides Renamon, and, of course, someone who had to turn on his headphones at the moment…

The trip through the mountains has begun. The stiff and narrow path is a difficult obstacle, but, at least for digimon, it is much easier than the scorching sands of the desert. But for the children it was quite a challenge. After all, children are not exactly on the top of their physical strength when they are only 10-12 years old. That fact was confirmed a couple of times during the trip, as they were forced to make breaks, because the legs hurt. It seems that if one difficulty disappears, another one arises. But still, they were much more relieved, and continued their march. Terriermon, whose evolution form was supposed to give him two barrel guns, was interested in the trooper's gun, and wanted to know more about this strange weapon, who was seen in action only in movies. A fluffy bunny with a shotgun… Very cute.

"So, can you tell me about your rifle? I really want to know more about it!"

"As you wish. The E-11 blaster rifle is a blaster rifle manufactured by BlasTech Industries during the Galactic Civil War. It is the standard blaster rifle of the Imperial stormtroopers. A powerful, light and compact weapon, the E-11 was used widely through the galaxy. The other information on the weaponry is secret and I can't tell you more." the monotonic voice replied.

"You're not being nice you know that?"

"I have my orders."

"Yeah, I know, you do. What about that ball-like thing? What is that?"

"This is a thermal detonator. A thermal detonator is a highly unstable grenade-like weapon popular among military personnel, criminals, bounty hunters, and mercenaries. The thermal detonator was utilized since at least 4,000 BBY."

"Wow, you are really armed and dangerous, aren't you?"

"I suppose it is so."

"You are not a very good conversationalist."

"Sorry, sir."

"No worries. Just telling you the truth. You should try to be less formal to people. Your voice that is jammed by your helmet can scare anyone out of the pants. Just about everyone feels uneasy when they talk to you. They think you are some sort of a robot. But you are not a robot, are you?" Terriermon asked. He was a curious fellow, and he liked to meet new people.

"No, sir. I am not a droid."

"Maybe, but you're acting pretty much like one."

"Sorry, sir."

"You don't need to be sorry. Still, why are you speaking this way?"

"Military subordination protocol."

"Another order? Have you ever thought to disobey an order? That the order is wrong?"

"No. Never, sir."

"Well, carry on then. I have to say, that you are quite a wonderful soldier, but an emotionless person. You have made uneasy just about everyone, except Renamon. She is just as emotionless as you, when it comes to communication with anyone, except Rika. At least her face is slightly moving when it comes to a speech, but I can't see anything through that white mask of yours."

They haven't noticed that this discussion was followed by everyone.

"You know, Henry, that rabbit of yours actually has a point there. That helm of his makes me feel like I am talking to a refrigerator." Rika whispered to Henry.

"Yeah, that gives me the chills. It is easier for me to talk to someone when I see the face of the one I am talking to." added Takato.

Henry didn't reply. He just remembered a line from an old book he read. "Go, soldier without a face or name, because your battle still goes on, even though everyone is gone…" he remembered. "Why have I just remembered this one?" he asked himself. The sun was hiding behind the mountain ahead of them, and that meant that the time for "rest and relaxation" was near. Soon they have stopped for a break near a small spring of water. Since the group has regained enough energy, the soldier was allowed to sleep till 02.00, while Guilmon and Terriermon were guarding.

After that it was Renamon's and NZ's turn to guard. The idea of splitting into pairs like so belonged to Terriermon and no one had anything against it. Trooper just took a seat near the stone and felt into slumber. Usually he didn't have any dreams. But today something went different. He saw a tall black-robed man-like figure. That figure kneeled before him and whispered: "In five days…" Then the dream ended. He heard the alarm-clock in his helm ringing. It was 02.00 already and his turn to stand on guard. Trooper stood up and went to his post, where Guilmon and Terriermon were waiting.

"02.00, right on time! Well, we should better get going. Have fun!" said Terriermon before leaving. NZ took his post and turned his night-vision on. Renamon joined him soon afterwards. The night in the mountains was quite beautiful, there was a pleasant breeze, and the sky was full of stars. That is why Renamon was enjoying her night staying a bit too much, and wasn't paying attention to what was going on around. Her co-worker wasn't that careless. He didn't care about the stars, breezes etc. not even a tiny bit. His lenses dulled the starlight, as for the breeze – he couldn't feel it with his full suit of armor on him. He noticed that his co-partner was not paying attention, and was gazing at the stars at the moment, and decided to interfere.

"Why aren't you at your post?" he asked quietly.

"It is such a beautiful night out. It would be a crime to miss it!"

Stormtrooper looked at the sky. The starlight has interfered with his night-vision a bit.

"Nothing special. But the real crime is deserting your post and allow the possible attacker to have a chance to break through and slaughter our sleeping comrades." the chill monotonic voice replied.

Renamon felt that chill. She never thought of something that grim.

"I would never allow that to happen."

"I know that you are a strong digimon, that you are faster, stronger, and that your senses are sharper than mine, and that you have better reaction, but that is not an excuse for being careless. You can never know for sure what strength the potential enemy has. And if you want to protect your tamer and the others, you should be always ready, because if you fall, they will become the next target."

"I hate when someone lecture me, but he has a point. If I do fall, they all are doomed. I never wanted to think about it, but I should be more careful." thought Renamon.

"You are quite right. I'm sorry." she nodded and jumped back to her post on a pine. "He said "to protect my tamer…". Was it really that obvious that I actually care about my tamer?" Renamon thought while sitting in a tree.

They both haven't noticed that they were watched by the curious Terriermon. He wasn't sleeping with the rest, so he spied on the two guards and overheard everything they were saying. Digimon was quite amazed, because he thought that their soldier knew just words like "Yes, sir" and "No, sir". The conversation he heard proved to him that the trooper actually had his own point of view. "Actually, that explains a lot of things about him. Iron discipline was in an army, who tried to avoid senseless casualties because of the disorder. It seems to me that it would be pretty stupid to lose a whole platoon, because of the one guardsman who fell asleep or went somewhere to admire the beauty of the night. But I have to ask him some day, why is he helping us anyway." he thought before going to sleep again.

The next day the whole squad was preparing to continue their trip. Since they have managed to find some water, the personal hygiene preparations took place. While just about everyone was busy enjoying the bath, NZ, who already had his water bottle full, was checking his equipment and revising his small, almost unnoticeable backpack, where he was carrying some extra ammo, a spare bottle and some medicines of first need.

"Well, let's see what is there left. E-11 ammo, three thermal detonators, two bottles, spare armor parts, first aid kit, copybook, pen and, huh? I don't recall I had this… What is that thing anyway?" He was looking at a strange dim black object. "What in the name of the Empire is this? Looks like a crossover of a commlink and a time bomb. Wait, I think I saw this thing somewhere before…But where? Hm…" he thought and tried to remember where he saw a similar object. Five minutes have passed, and he suddenly remembered. "I think I know where I have seen this. I believe that the children have similar objects at their disposal. I will have to ask who accidently misplaced it. This belongs to one of them." That was his reaction when he first saw a digivice.

Meanwhile the rest of the group was enjoying themselves in the water spring. But they had little time to spare, and they had to continue their quest. In ten minutes everybody already got back in their clothes, and the march continued. Takato noticed that NZ was looking at something very attentively, but because he was only 12 years old, and was rather short to see what a full-grown soldier was looking at.

"Hey! What are you looking at? C'mon, let me see! Let me see!"

"As you wish. And I think this belonged to you or your friends." He replied coldly, as usual, and showed him the digivice.

"Wow! It's a digivice! Where have you found it?" Takato shouted in excitement. The others have heard it and also went to see what's going on.

"What has he found?" asked the rest in the same time.

"Guys, you won't believe it! He found a digivice!" Takato replied cheerfully.

"No way! It can't be!" said Rika and Henry.

"See for yourself!" added Takato and gave them the dim black digivice, which he had received a couple of minutes ago.

"Yep, it's a digivice alright. Yet, I have never seen one which was black and had black buttons." Rika nodded.

"I wonder how it got here. So, NZ, where have you found it?" asked Henry.

"I found it in my backpack 20 minutes ago, when I was going to see, what was left of my ammunition." stormtrooper replied. He was curious about how that device ended in his backpack, and he thought, that this was just a misunderstanding of some sort. And he was curious about the purpose of a digivice itself.

"What does it do anyway?" he asked.

"It's the most important thing we have. With it we can support our digimon in battle by using different cards." Takato said.

"So, if this thing is that important, how it ended up in my backpack?"

"Well, that a tricky question. Let me think about it…" replied Rika and started to think, but before she could come up with anything, Renamon entered the debate about where did the digivice come from with a simple guess: "Maybe this digivice belongs to the stormtrooper?"

Everyone stared at her for five more minutes…

"That's impossible." Rika said at last.

"Why?" Renamon replied.

"Well, I have received a digivice for being the best digimon card player, Henry received the digivice, because his father was one of the creators of the digimon, and Takato received his because he drew his Guilmon too much. We all have received them because our cases are all related to digimon, so why should he receive one too?" she asked, after finishing her logical chain.

"Maybe because he fell into the Digiworld from a different reality?" Rena suggested.

"I have never thought of that. Maybe you are right." Rika ended her discussion, and then turned to the trooper, who was completely missing the subject.

"Tell me, soldier, have you seen something unusual lately?" she asked.

"Like what?"

"Well, like visions, ghosts, dreams, I don't know, something weird?"

"Now that you have mentioned it, I had a dream a day ago. That was when first let me to sleep normally for four hours. I saw a black-robed figure. It kneeled before me and said: "In five days". I was not able to see its face, it was hidden by the hood. I have dreams rarely, so that was unusual enough for me to remember, but not enough to take it seriously." he answered the question.

"That is pretty unusual. Although, if you have a digivice, then I suppose that some day you also will become a tamer, just like us, and will find a digimon partner." Henry nodded.

"But I don't know a thing about digimon and that card game of yours. All I know is that the majority of digimon are superior to basic soldiers in strength, speed etc." he replied. Even through the helmet, children have guessed that he is concerned. Rika was now sitting and thinking about this problem:"It would be quite useful, if a skilled tamer with a strong digimon would join our cause. But the problem is that this particular… wannabe tamer knows nothing about digimon card game. Well, I could try teaching him, but on one hand soldiers are not very bright, while on the other hand, if I order him to learn, he will willingly try his best and will spent countless hours to study, if needed… Hm, what do we have to lose anyway? Yet, I wonder who was that figure from his weird dream…" then she stood up and said:

"Very well, it's obvious to me that you should be thought how to use the cards, and know the basics about digimon. I will teach you, NZ - 13, since I'm the best digimon card player around".

"As you wish, mistress." he replied with his monotonic, never changing voice.

"Fine then. From now on, I will spend two hours a day on teaching you." she said with a bit of enthusiasm in her voice.

"Thank you, mistress. I will do my best." the machine-like voice replied. Again without any emotion, it meant only what must be done, and what will be done.

The case was settled. And the trip continued. But from now on each day went a little different. When the group stopped for a night break, Rika and her new … apprentice were studying. Trooper was not exactly the sharpest knife in the wardrobe when it comes to studying, but he was disciplined, and that compensated the lack of talent. He had a pen and a copybook and he wrote everything Rika said during the lesson. His handwriting was quite strange, because he wrote things very quickly, and yet his printed handwriting was perfect. He learned how to use his digivice in 30 minutes, and spent 8.5 pages in his copybook on writing the instructions. After that was a course about card playing and strategy. Rika gave NZ her spare deck and tried to play a game with him. Of course, she won. And of course, there was no miracle, and no "luck of the beginner". When a professional plays, there's no such things just do not continue to exist. He tried to resist, but he was no mach. Yet, NZ was not displeased with his defeat not a tiny bit. He was writing, every battle he lost was written in his copybook. The information he needed to analyze for a weakness. He knew one algorithm: try an idea – see what mistake you did – correct mistake – try again. Sooner or later all mistakes will be eliminated. And the idea will work. He was not very talented, but he wasn't stupid either, and had the ability to analyze, maybe not very fast, but still. And trooper continued to do so, but he also continued to do his duties. His normal day schedule just was changed a little. Day – journey, assistance to anyone in the group. Evening – 2 hour lecture with Rika, 1 hour of analyzes. Night – patrol, sleep. A couple of days have passed. Rika proved to be a pretty good teacher. But the progress wasn't fast. It took time for the soldier to understand something obvious. And in the morning the, march continued. Already four and a half days have passed since the dream NZ had. And he didn't forget it. And he had the feeling that they must be ready for something. But the thought was interrupted.

"So, how are your classes going?" asked Terriermon.

"Not as good as I wanted. I'm not a very good scholar, and my progress is slow. But I won't resign, and I won't fail."

"I have never seen you that confident. But, I don't understand, how your progress can be slow. I have seen your copybook and I have to say, that it had the amount of writing Takato and Henry will do in 3 month."

"It is not that simple. You can have an enormous amount of data, but if you won't use it, it will be worthless. I am using the amount I am given, but not as effectively as it is needed. I have a lot of work to do."

"Alright, well, good luck!" said the green mutant rabbit and went to his tamer.

Another day was at an end. Everybody went to sleep, but NZ volunteered to stay and guard all night. He wasn't sure if the dream he had 5 days ago was just a joke of his tired mind, and he needed to make sure nothing happens during the night. Just for safety. So he stood at a post 2 times, first time – with Guilmon and Terriermon, and the second with Renamon. The first one went without problems, but the second one offered … surprises…

I Well, that's the end of the 2 chapter. For any foreign readers: I am terribly sorry for grammatical mistakes, if you know a good grammar-checking site or program, please, tell me. It would be really appreciated. Also post some reviews, if you have time, of course. It also will be really appreciated.


	3. Chapter 3

A stormtrooper lost in the Digiworld

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A stormtrooper lost in the Digiworld  
Chapter 3: the Meeting.

First of all I want to thank everybody for the reviews. It was really pleasant to see that someone actually reads this. Standard disclaimer: I do not own digimon, star wars or the prototype of the hero of the story, who will appear in this chapter. I am terribly sorry for my grammatical mistakes and if someone knows a good internet site or a program which can help me with that – I'm begging you to tell me about it. And, of course, just about any reviews would be much appreciated.

… He was in pair with Renamon in their night – guarding duty. As usual, he took his position on the ground, while she had the post on a tree. Stormtrooper had two commlinks in his helmet – one was actually used by him, and the other was a spare one, but was carried in the helmet. He gave that spare commlink to Renamon, just in case if something happens, so that they could warn each other of any thread. Although the commlink could be considered "from the future", Renamon understood how to use it, because she was an intelligent digimon. That small piece of electronics also allowed them to have brief discussions, without leaving their posts.

"So, are you going to tell me, why you have volunteered to guard all night today?" asked Renamon.

"If that is what you wish. I had a dream five days ago, and the dream said that after five days something will happen. And since today is the fifth day, I have decided to stay on guard all night, just to make sure nothing happens."

"I see. Can I ask you another question?" she asked patiently.

"You can ask me as many questions as you desire." mechanical voice replied.

"I'm glad to hear that. I wanted to ask you about your lectures with Rika. How are they going?"

"I'm trying my best to learn, but that is not enough. The progress is rather slow. Rika is a good teacher, yet I find strange the fact that I'm not getting a hit in the head for any mistake I make, like it was in the Imperial Military Academy.

"If I would receive a hit for any mistake I made during my training, I would be nothing but scars and bruises. Yes. When I first met Rika and became her partner, she saw me as a pack of data, without a character, mind or soul, just a battle machine. And she gave me a very harsh training. I think I had no actual punishment, because she is just a child and she has no strength to hit me."

"Any training has its purpose."

"Yes. I have another question for you. Why have helped us in the desert? I mean, you just entered this dimension, and decided to help some children and some creatures you never heard about?"

"If a dimensional rift opens, the chance of opening another to the dimension I came from is 3548973364129 to one. This is the basic rule in interdimensional mechanics. In other words – I can not go back, and I have no place to go. I was lucky to meet your group and that you were kind enough to let a stranger go with you. For that I will be forever grateful, and will be forever loyal to any of you."

Renamon almost fell out of the tree when she heard that answer. "Of course! That's why he came with us. And thought I was smart. Although, I actually feel sorry for that white-clad guy over there." she thought.

"I'm sorry that I asked." she said.

"You shouldn't be sorry. I have no regrets. What's done is done and nothing can change it." replied the same emotionless voice.

That emotionless mechanical voice gave chills even to Renamon, but she controlled her emotions well enough not to show a shivering.

"Why can't you take of that helmet?" she nodded.

"Military engagement protocol: all soldiers must wear full body armor while being in the enemy territory."

"But it hides your face. And people don't like when they can't see someone's face. It makes them nervous."

"I have been in this helmet for a long time. It is my face now. It clearly represents what I am."

"Yes, but it doesn't represent who you are."

"Is there a difference?"

Renamon didn't answer. She just had nothing to say. "And I thought Rika was heartless. Compare to him, she is a highly sensitive child. And I know now the meaning of the word "machine"." she thought. Their discussion ended. Suddenly a cold wind came out of nowhere. It was so cold, that the blood was icing in the veins.

"Did you feel that?" she asked the trooper.

"Wind. Temperature -9 Celsius. Speed – 93 km/h." NZ replied.

"Wait, I think I feel someone coming." There was a full moon, and the passage they were going through was lighted. Then, they heard a scream. But not a normal scream, it was more like a shriek. A dreadful shriek, it woke up everybody in the camp. It was so horrible, that Renamon finally fell of that tree. For it was the cry of the dead, the one that makes even the bravest hearts tremble with fear, that tear your ears apart, that makes you fall on your knees and cry. Actually, that's what happened to the children in the camp. Takato and Henry were shivering along with their digimon, while Rika was crying in the pillow. No matter what she thought of herself, she was only a little girl, and her "guardian angel" was not with her at the moment.

"Renamon, Renamon, can you hear me? Respond! I have heard a high-intensity shriek. Respond at once!" stormtrooper said in his commlink.

"Yes. Renamon responding. I am here. I just fell of the tree. Be prepared for anything. Oh, and you were right about your dream. I can feel someone approaching."  
"Confirmed. I have a visual contact. A human-shaped figure, distance – 531 meters. Speed of approach – 4km/h."

The other tamers finally showed up with their digimon. Although they were pretty scared.

"What happened? What was that terrible scream that almost made me wet my pants?" shouted Takato.

"Yeah, and… wait, Rika, why are your eyes red? Were you crying?" Henry added.

"No I was not, stupid! I just got something in my eye, well, both of them."

"Target in the line of fire. Should I attack?" asked NZ while aiming at the dark figure, who was approaching.

"No, hold your fire, we don't know if that person is hostile, but be ready to fire if necessary. We will wait for now." replied Renamon, who wasn't overwhelmed with fear like the others.  
Meanwhile the cause of their uncontrollable fear has reached the line of sight. It looked like a tall man. It wore black armor and a black cloak with a hood. And under the hood… there was nothing. No face, no helmet, nothing. Just darkness. And as this figure approached, everyone felt terror growing inside. Well, almost everyone. NZ was serving in Vader's private Elite legion, so he learned how not to pass out in front of the Dark Lord of the Sith. And he wished that the children had the same experience, because they were ready to pass out. Not because they were cowards, but because they felt that the figure approaching was an emanation of death and terror.  
And they have almost fainted, when the creature approached at a distance of 10 meters, and started to talk:

"Good night to all of you." it hissed, but everyone heard it like it was hissing right in their ears.

Rika used her digivice to scan the scary visitor. The digivice quickly responded:

"Name: Ulairimon. Type: ghost. Class: Rookie. No more information available."

"Ulairimon? Never heard of that one." Rika quietly whispered to the rest of the group. When "all knowing" Henry heard that, he became pale, well, even you all." than he was, and stuttered:

"He…he…Ulairi…N…N…Naz…Nazgul!" he finally managed to say. He was shivering again like a leaf caught in a windstorm.

While the others tried to get Henry out of that state, and NZ was still aiming at the dreadful figure, Renamon took few steps forward and asked:

"Who are you and what do you want?"

"I think you have already heard the answer from your friend over there. I am Ulairimon. Do not worry, I came in peace. I was seeking your group, and once I have located it, I have sent you a message, five days ago. Have you received it?"

"Probably. So, why you were seeking us? What do you want?" Renamon replied angrily.

While Renamon was speaking to the strange visitor, Takato was trying to help Henry. But Henry was really scared, and it looked like he knew something about Ulairimon.  
"Henry, what happened? I know the guy is scary, but what you were talking about?" asked Takato.

"Born of pain and raging hatred,  
Created by fire and fear,  
Enchanted riders of cold darkness,  
The slaves of the ring."  
Henry replied, while trying to stand on his without trembling.

Meanwhile the discussion between Renamon and Ulairimon continued.

"It is your right to know why I am here and why I am seeking your group. I came here in my search for a tamer. I have felt the presence of a device that you use to assist your digimon in battle, so I went after it. I believe it belongs to that strange-looking human who aims at me with his strange weapon. This is all I have to say. And I shall wait for the answer." he hissed. Everybody stared at this walking menace for a while, and then Renamon, who played the role of the main speaker, replied:

"What made you think that we won't just attack you and destroy you to make our digimon stronger?" she asked coldly.

"Because if you do, minimum one of you will fall with me, and I don't mean only digimon. I am not powerless, you know." he replied even colder. Grim silence stood for a minute… Renamon took a step back. This was a grim warning even for her, who had no mercy for the enemy digimon, but her… opponent was actually ready to strike the defenseless children. That was too much even for her, not to mention three scared little children, who were hiding behind Terriermon and Guilmon when they heard that answer. Finally Renamon managed to say:

"That's… evil. Pure evil."

"Yes, it is so. But, I still wait for a response to my proposition. Hopefully, you will make a right choice." grim voice replied.

"Fine, but we'll need some time to make a decision." she replied, regaining control of herself.

"Take any amount of time you wish. I will wait for the answer right here. And, I have to say one more thing: If you will reject my proposal, I give you my word that I will never be a threat to you or your friends."

"Very well. This is the first nice thing I heard form you. I will come back and say our final answer."

"As you wish." he hissed.

Renamon turned and said to the others quietly:

"Let's go guys, we have a decision to make. Let's go."

The others went after Renamon, with NZ going last in the column. Back at the camp everyone took their places near the fire. They have gathered to make the decision that will most probably change their life. Renamon started the discussion.

"Well, I trust you all heard what was going on and why we are here. This Ulairimon came with the proposition of becoming NZ's partner. What should we say to him?" she asked.

"Well, I think I may have to say something. I have decided to train NZ in card game, because I thought that, when he will receive a digimon, we will have another ally, who will aid us in battle. I have to admit, that Ulairimon is strong. But on the other hand, if Renamon is always reserved, and sometimes creepy, and NZ is always creepy, and sometimes scary, than this guy looks like an abomination of pure evil. I don't know if I can trust him, but my decision relies on the strength, and I say "Yes"." Rika said seriously.

"Are you serious? That scream scared us all from our pants! Ulairi – are the most devoted servants of the Lord of Darkness, Sauron, also known as Gorthauer the Cruel, or the Lidless Eye, at least in the film. I saw that film, and there were nine of them, and they have served the cause of evil, and were able to destroy an army, while riding their Fell Beasts. You Rika must be really brave and all, but I won't be able to sleep well at night with that… thing wandering around! I vote "No!"." said Henry.

"Oh, c'mon! I think we should give the guy a chance! I mean, sure he is tall, dark, and scary and stuff like that, but if he won't scream like he did, he would be a real decent add to our company. Think on the bright side, if he was so scary to us, when he came with his proposal, and acted, well, rather peacefully, how terrifying he will be when he will attack our foes? On this one I have to agree with Rika. I say "Yes."." said Takato with a bit of optimism in his voice, as usual.

"How easily you forget how scared you were." said Henry to Takato.

"But everything turned out just fine." replied Takato.

"Well, what I have to say? I'm with Takato." said Guilmon.

"And I'm with Henry. What about you, Renamon?" asked Terriermon.

"Well, I just can't get out of my head his phrase about what he will do if we attack him. Ulairimon is dangerous, at least I think so. And I have to admit, that I am actually scared of him. Yes, I know the sky will fall to the ground any moment and I know that pigs fly, but I actually admitted it. Unfortunately, I will have to say "No"." replied Renamon, and noticed that just about everyone was staring at her… It was a good thing that no one saw her blush.

"Interesting. It is three against three. Looks like your vote will be the deciding, NZ. So, what do you have to say?" asked Rika.

"Well, I have something to say. I can say that I'm not that scared of him. I believe that, with adequate approach, he will be an excellent battle unit. My vote is "Yes"." he replied as cold, as usual.

"Well, the decision is made. With votes four against three, it is decided that Ulairimon will be NZ's partner. Although I am displeased with this outcome, I hope that my opinion is wrong. I will go and inform… Ulairimon." announced Renamon and went.

While debates were going, our new… "friend" was waiting for the outcome of his case. "Sometimes it's better to be a noble knight in shiny armor than the embodiment of pain and misery. I hope I didn't scare them, well, too much. It might create an obstacle. Probably I will get a rejection…" he thought, when he felt a presence.

"Well, Renamon, I suppose you came to tell me the decision." he hissed.

"Yes, I am here to tell you, that the "council" has approved your proposal. Yet I was against that decision, it is not my right to argue with the opinion of the majority." she replied. She was really displeased, because she had to deal now with him too.

"Excellent. I thought I will get a rejection. Sometimes it is good to be wrong. Hopefully, I will not disappoint you."

"Yeah, good for you. Now you shall impart all the duties every digimon in our group does. But remember, don't try anything suspicious, because I am watching you." she warned him.

"Don't worry, I will remember." he hissed.

"We must go back to the camp now to get you linked up to NZ's digivice. For some reason, his digivice is completely black, just as you."

"What a coincidence." he replied.

That reply almost forced Renamon to stop. "Really, what a coincidence. That is just too strange."  
They have proceeded to the camp. It took some time to link up Ulairimon to the digivice. When this was done, Rika gasped:

"Fine, that's done, now you, Ulairimon, with your tamer will go to guard. Oh, and you will go too, Renamon. Keep an eye on him, just in case. We all have to get some sleep, it's been a long night. Oh, and one more thing, Ulairimon, I'm begging you, never make that shriek of yours when I'm around and you're not in combat."

"As you wish." Ulairimon and NZ replied at the same time.

"Well, good night then." she said and went to her dorm sack. "Hm, they will get along perfectly. They are quite similar. Almost too similar." she thought before going to sleep.

There were no more surprises that night. The day came in quick, and everyone was preparing to continue their journey. Takato was drawing two more mini-portraits to his ridiculous flag. When all the preparations were made, it was time to go.  
The trip continues…

Well, that's another chapter. And, once again, I'm terribly sorry for any mistakes I made. Also I'm hoping to receive some reviews, to correct something that you didn't like later in the future. Also I have a message for my brother and sister: YOU OWE ME 20 FOR THIS! As for the other readers: Thank you very much for reading this story so far.


	4. Chapter 4

A stormtrooper lost in the Digiworld Chapter 4: The first encounter or Darkness stands strong

A stormtrooper lost in the Digiworld Chapter 4: The first encounter or Darkness stands strong.

As usual, I would like to thank all the readers for reading this crap, and also I would like to say thank everyone (well, mostly whatisee) for the reviews. I will try to make this story more interesting, and I hope you will like it. Also I have a message for my annoying little brother and sister: I AM GOING TO TARE YOU APART IF I'LL GET MY HANDS ON YOU! THAT'S WHAT YOU DESERVE FOR ALMOST BREAKING MY PRECIOUS COMPUTER!

…They were marching through the mountain pass, but now there were more of them. The group was marching in a standard tamer – digimon pairs, one pair by another. In the first pair were Henry and Terriermon, while NZ and Ulairimon were marching last. Just about everyone was curious about how the newcomer will get along with the others. So far he was just followed his new appointed master like a shade, and remained silent all the time… Rika was curious about what powers had this new digimon in their team, so she approached NZ and asked:

"So, what attacks your digimon uses? I'm just curious, and I really want to know."

"If that is what you wish, let's see now…" he said and pushed some buttons on his digivice. "Here we are. Ulairimon, his attacks are: death shriek, dark vortex, reaper slash, soul drain and various other nasty surprises." he read.

"Wow, that's a lot. Hopefully soon we will see them all in action." she replied, and went to Renamon, who was also curious, yet she didn't wanted to admit it. Meanwhile Guilmon was staring at Ulairimon. In fact, he was staring at him all day. But no matter how hard he tried to get a look on what was hiding in the depths of the hood, he failed all the time. Because of that, he went to Renamon to ask something.

"Hey Renamon! Hold up!" he shouted.

"Yes Guilmon, what is it?" she replied calmly.

"You know, I want to ask you about something. I have spent all day trying to see what's that "tall, dark and scary" was hiding in the shadow of his hood, but it was of no use. I want to ask you, do you know what is in that hood of his?" he asked impatiently.

"Actually, this thing puzzled me too. I was even staring right in his hood when I was telling him about our decision yesterday. I see quite well in the dark, but no matter how hard I tried, all I managed to see was … darkness. I suggest you stay away from him for a while, after all, he is quite a … dark character." she replied. She never replied harshly to Guilmon, because he never made her feel uneasy. He acted as a child, and to him Renamon was always "all-knowing and all-powerful", and she always helped him with a good advise.

"I think you are right. Thanks. I will do as you say." he replied and ran back to Takato.

Renamon forgot to say "you're welcome". Anyway, it was of no importance. She was in the middle of discussing with Rika.

"Do you think it's a good idea, Rika? Because I think it may be dangerous…" she said to Rika.

"Sure, it is a great idea. After all, NZ and his digimon need some real practice. And what could be better practice than a fight against the best digimon and the best tamer around? Anyway, why are you trying so much to back out of this? Are you scared?" Rika asked with irony in her voice.

"No… of course I'm not!" she replied.

"Then why do you worry? I already know what attacks he uses: death shriek, dark vortex, reaper slash, soul drain and various other nasty surprises. I don't know for sure what those "nasty surprises" are, but I'm sure it's nothing we can't handle. Relax, it will be fine!" she tried to cheer Renamon up.

"Easy for you to say… Wait, I can feel someone coming in our direction." Renamon said. After that, the thing that she sensed was coming has appeared. It was an Ogremon. **Attribute: **Virus

**Level: **Champion. **Attacks: **Pummel Whack, Bone Cudgel. It looked like and overgrown goblin with a bone club. Actually, the fact that this creature appeared in their way made Renamon feel a lot better.

"Hey Rika, maybe we should let that Ulairimon to deal with him, and we will watch the effect from his attacks."

"Hm, I see your point. That not such a bad idea." Rika replied to Renamon, and then shouted to NZ:

"Hey, NZ! Order your digimon to attack that Ogremon! Let's see what he knows."

"Of course." he replied and said to Ulairimon:

"Attack that digimon. Destroy him!"

"It will be my pleasure, master." he hissed. In a moment Ulairimon was in the front of the group, who gathered to watch the battle. He was slowly approaching his nemesis – the Ogremon, and his sword just appeared out of nowhere. It was a long blade of ghastly-white color. Suddenly, it began to burn with fire, black fire. Ogremon said to him:

"Ha ha ha. What could a pathetic rookie do against me? I will smash you to shards of data!"

Then a powerful strike of icy wind stroked him and almost made him to lose his balance. Everyone felt the chill. It was no ordinary chill… "That kind of cold comes from the graveyard" Renamon thought while watching the battle.

"I will enjoy your torture." Ulairimon hissed, and raised his hand. The strange streams of energy waved from the enemy right into his hand. Every one noticed that Ogremon began to fade.

"What's happening to me? Aaaaaaaaghrhhhhhhh!" he began to scream. And he continued screaming, like he was burned alive, and boiled oil was poured in his ears, and while he was thorn apart and eaten alive by human-eating ants in the same time. Everyone, who was watching, turned away, because Ogremon's face was torn by agony, as his image became pale, and he became thinner. Soon, there was nothing left of him, but a skeleton, and that one just fell apart into shards of data. The horrible screams of pain finally disappeared. The spectators were frozen still. They have never seen any digimon die in such agony. In fact, they have never seen a digimon die. They have seen them disappear into shards of data, but this was not a harmless destruction. It was death and a horrible one too. When Ulairimon came back to the rest of the team, everyone just backed away from his path. Only NZ went to him and asked:

"What was that attack you used?" he asked emotionlessly.

"Soul drain." Ulairimon hissed.

"What is the normal duration of the attack, and since when the enemy is paralyzed?"

"Duration – 9 seconds, the enemy gets paralyzed from the beginning."

"Then why the whole thing took you 2 minutes and 37 seconds?"

"I wanted him to suffer."

"Never waist time in combat, because time means life. And besides, that long agony scared the children."

"I have noticed that. I won't make it so long next time."

While they were talking, Renamon walked with Rika few steps away from the crowd, and asked her quietly:

"You still think it's a good idea to give this guy some practice fights involving me?"

"Nn… No. You use melee attacks, while he is using some sort of… dark magic… Which causes… extreme pain. All the time… I feel he might be stronger than you… and I don't want you to get hurt. Dark forces are strong, and they are not… to be tangled with… I'm sorry I even had that idea. It is a good thing he is on our side." Rika managed to say. She was really stressed

"Don't worry. Calm down, everything's fine, we are safe, and he is on our side and won't harm us. There is nothing to fear…" Renamon tried to calm down Rika. But nothing was over. Suddenly, 30 more Ogremon came around. They were smaller, than the one Ulairimon just killed. The biggest Ogremon of the horde screamed with anger:

"They have killed our chieftain! Slaughter them a…" he didn't manage to end his call, because a red blaster bolt, shot by NZ, made his head explode. Before ogre hoard could react, the rest of the digimon attacked. Renamon dispatched one enemy after another, but was surrounded, and the others fought as bravely as they could, but Ogremon hoard have received reinforcements: 30 more Ogremon. Their number was overwhelming, and NZ, who already has used his 3 thermal detonators, shouted:

"We have to retreat!"

And after that there was "The shriek". The same one that was heard when the group first met their new … ally, and that scared them so much, but only this time it was much stronger. It made the battle stop, and also made Ogremon panic. The thing they saw next could be only describe as "Death rages…" Ulairimon with his sword of dark flame in one hand and while using his spell known as the "Dark Vortex" cut through enemy line, bringing mass destruction and despair to the enemy force. Any one who touched the dark vortex got evaporated, and his sword gave anyone it touched horrible and lethal wounds. Or it just was cutting away hands, fists, legs, heads etc. The smell of burned meat was in the air…The panic caused by his fearsome attack helped the others to finish up the rest of the Ogremon. Every enemy was dead. No one survived.

The carnage was finally over. Thankfully, the bodies disappeared. Because if it wasn't for that, the whole battlefield would be filled with gruesomely slaughtered bodies. Children were shocked. When they have seen two digimon battling one another, it seemed to them it was a game, but this carnage, screams and death…this was not a digibattle, this was war… Digimon were resting after a hard battle, and Ulairimon also took a seat. This battle tired him also. Terriermon and Guilmon were almost fine, they had just some bruises, mostly because they were fighting on one flank with Ulairimon. Renamon was lying on the ground and tried to relax. She never had such a battle before. Her battles usually were one-on-one fights, where the tactics and skill of her master gave her victory. This was just… different. She just stood there and fought. No maneuvers, no tricks, no nothing. Just fighting. This is what she was thinking about, but when she tried to stand up, twisted pain in the back made her moan:

"Arhhhhh! My back hurts!"… In few seconds Rika was sitting next to her, asking:

"Renamon, are you alright? Were you hurt?" It was obvious she was worried.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just uhhrrr! That hurt." Renamon managed to reply, when she saw that stormtrooper came to her with a small white box with a red cross on it.

"Medical assistance here. Renamon, turn around please." he said calmly. In his white armor and his medical kit he almost looked like a surgeon.

"I said I'm fine." Renamon replied, while truing not to show she was suffering.

"Can you just do something I say without arguing for a change?" he replied and forced her to turn around and show him her back.

"Hey, what are you going to do?" he asked when she saw that he took down his armored gloves and pulled on medical ones on his hands.

"I'm going to treat your wound, silly." he replied and started to touch her spine around her spine.

"Stop that! That tickles!" she shouted.

"Keep quiet for a while will you!" he nodded, and, after finishing the check, said:

"You are lucky that your backbone is not fractured. You have received a couple of hits in the spine during the fight. You will probably end up with a big and painful bruise all over your back if we don't do something quickly. And I have just the thing to help you out." he said and drawn a strange bottle with blue liquid in it from his kit.

"What is that? I think that is not a good idea…" she asked while she stared at it with her blue eyes. He noticed that.

"Rule 39 – never say "No" to bacta. It can heal almost any wound in a brief period of time." he replied calmly while rubbing this liquid into her back.

"You know, this stuff really works! The pain now is much weaker." she said happily, but her strength was also worn out, and she was really tired. This was also noticed by her "surgeon".

"You are tired. You must have some sleep at once." he said and took some bottle from his kit, and said:

"Sniff this. It will help you." he asked her.

"What is this? Another cu…aoouaoe…" she managed to say before falling asleep.

"What have you done?" Rika shouted very loud.

"Don't worry. She is asleep. She will wake up in an hour. Let her rest for a while." NZ replied softly.

"You know, you have just acted, well, I don't know, kindly? I mean, I have never seen you act like this before." Rika said.

"I can say I have two sides." he replied, while making final adjustments to the bandage on Renamon's back.

"Really? All I have seen was the "executive merciless robot" side."

"I think that side might not prove useful when you try to take care of someone wounded." he said, and walked away, leaving Rika alone with her doubts. Actually, Rika hated to recognize that she misjudged people sometimes. And this was just the case. She was sure that they were assisted by a perfect living and breathing mechanism, but what she saw a few moments ago changed her point a view. She saw that this mechanism took care for her most devoted friend, and she finally felt that there was someone behind that helmet. But this thought was quickly taken away by her. "Nonsense, he probably acted like so because he has the orders to protect us and to assist us." And a voice inside her mind replied: "You are just afraid to admit that you were wrong."

Meanwhile Guilmon went to see, what Ulairimon was up to. He found him when he was fixing the right side of his armor with his hammer.

"Hey there! What are you doing?"

"Can't you see what I am doing?" Ulairimon hissed, he hated to be disturbed.

"Wow, that's a huge dent on your armor. Are you not hurt?" Guilmon asked with concern in his voice.

"I'm an undead being, it is hard to wound me with such primitive weapons." Ulairimon hissed back. He was annoyed.

"Uh, what is "undead"?"

"That means: not living, nor dead."

"Oh. So you are not alive?" Guilmon asked while taking few steps back.

"Yes I am. Scared yet?" asked the ghost.

"You must be joking. You are not dead. Anyway, I want to ask you, what you are hiding behind that hood. Let me see your face!"

"Very well, if that is what you wish." said Ulairi with a bit of sorrow in his voice. He didn't wanted to scare this one, but he had no illusions, and knew that this must be done, or he will annoy him with this question for a long time. He removed the hood… Guilmon ran away faster then a bullet. Because there was nothing under it… Guilmon ran to Takato, screaming.

"Hold on Guilmon! Stop screaming! What happened?" Takato shouted. That scream also got the attention of Renamon, who was feeling great after a nap and the treatment.

"Yes, Guilmon, are you going to tell us what happened?" she asked softly.

"Offf course. I asked Ulairimon to show his face." Guilmon replied, shivering.

"And he scared you, right?" Renamon guessed.

"Well, actually he did the thing that I asked him for. He removed his hood…"

"And?" Takato and Renamon asked in the same time.

"There was nothing. No face, no head, no nothing. It was so scary, I almost had a heart attack. He also told me that he was "undead". And I don't even know what does that mean!" Guilmon cried.

"I'll try to explain. Do you remember we were watching a movie about zombies? Well, zombies are undead." Takato explained.

"So, hhe iss a zzombie?" Guilmon asked with fear.

"Well, not exactly. He is like the main evil in the film, the dark sorcerer that controlled the zombies."

"Great. I think I'm going to faint…" said Guilmon… and fainted.

"It figures…" said Renamon and walked away. "Like master, like digimon. Ulairimon's master doesn't have a face too, technically." she thought. She went to find NZ to thank him for such a fine treatment of her wound. She found him sitting on a stone, polishing his rifle.

"Good morning, how are you?" he greeted her.

"Just fine. I wanted to thank you for treating my spine. It really helped me." Renamon replied.

"I am happy to be of service."

"Can I ask you about that blue liquid you used?"

"Of course. It is called bacta serum. It was created as a perfect medicine for treating wounds. It saved many lives and it has the ability to regenerate itself, because in it's created with some sort of healing bacteria. It was a breakthrough in nanotechnology and microbiology."

"Wow. That is amazing. Anyway, let's get going. It is time for us to go."

"Yes. I'm ready." he replied.

They were all set and ready to go. Once again, the trip continued…

Another chapter is at an end. I'm sorry if I did something wrong, and if you don't like something in the story, feel free to express your self in the review. It would be much appreciated.


	5. Chapter 5

A stormtrooper lost in the Digiworld Chapter 5 – Training sessions

A stormtrooper lost in the Digiworld Chapter 5 – Training sessions.

Good day to all readers. I have decided to continue this story, even though my sister and brother now fear me very much, and quitted to ask me about the story. I have found out that there are some people, who actually like my story, so I will continue to write for them. Message for whatisee: could you tell me how old are you? Just for information. And I'm sorry for any grammatical mistakes that are in the text.

…Team continued their trip through the mountains, and it was close to an end. To make the travel easier, people tried to talk about something while walking. That's was precisely what were doing NZ and Ulairimon. And the only thing they could be talking about was… weapons.

"I have seen your weapon in battle. It was very effective. After all, not every human can kill a digimon in battle." Ulairimon hissed.

"Yes, E-11 blaster rifle is quite powerful. But the problem is that, once I have no ammo, it's useless. I fear that, once all of the ammo is spent, I will become worthless as a fighting force." responded NZ.

"Yes, that's just too bad. If we are going to fight numerous enemies at a time, we will need every warrior we can get."

"I saw your sword in battle also. Can I ask you something?"

"Of course, master. What is on your mind?"

"I wonder if you have a spare sword." NZ replied. If Ulairimon's eyes were visible, NZ could have been seen the amazement in his look.

"Why do you need a spare sword, master?"

"Well, I'll explain. When I will be out of ammo, I'll be standing behind and supporting you with

my digivice, like the other tamers. While you and the other digimon are in battle, some of the enemy digimon might target the tamers. In that case you or others won't be able to come in time to deflect the attack. That is why I will need something to protect the children and, in that situation, to buy some time for our digimon to come and destroy the attackers."

"I have a spare sword. But it's suicide for a human to fight a digimon in melee combat." hissed Ulairimon.

"Perhaps, but still, I am the only adult here, and it is my duty to protect these children and their friends."

"Why are you so loyal to them anyway? Isn't your life just as important as theirs? You all humans look the same to me."

"Yes, but don't forget that I'm also a soldier. So quit this useless discussion. You will have to teach me to fight with a sword, and to resist digimon attacks with it."

"As you wish, my master." he hissed.

The discussion ended. Although no one heard what they were talking about, the fact that they were talking was not unnoticed. Guilmon, who was bored, thought that this should be discussed with his second best friend – Terriermon.

"Hey you noticed that NZ was speaking to Ulairimon?"

"So?"

"Doesn't that seem strange?'

"No. Why do you consider strange the fact that a tamer speaks with his digimon?"

"Well, I don't know, but maybe they are up to something. I think I'll spy on them and will find out what are they hiding."

"You know, I think I will tell Ulairimon to scare you a couple of times. Looks like he didn't scared the stupidity out of you the last time. But, if you will find something important, inform me about it. And don't run to me when Ulairimon will decide do beat you up, because he will beat me up also if I'll get in his way."

"Alright then! I will go on my super mega spy mission and will gather information."

"Yeah, what ever. Good luck James Bond!" Terriermon replied and ended this. From now on Guilmon was acting strange, hiding in the bushes and thinking that no one sees him. Nobody gave that little game of his much importance. The group has taken another one hour break, and NZ decided that this was perfect time for his training. That is because he was not tired, and Ulairimon didn't even knew what that was. They have left a note on the stone, and left. Of course, Guilmon followed them, while the rest of the team was resting. NZ and his digimon came to a distance from the camp.

"Here, this will be your sword from now on, my master." hissed Ulairimon and gave his tamer one of his ghastly – looking morgul blades.

"It is a morgul blade. It is a poisoned magical weapon that can cut through almost anything. If you wound someone with this, a small piece of it is broken and remains in the wound, in time working its way to the heart." he added.

"That is a fine weapon. I am sure it will serve its purpose well. How about we go on to training?"

"As you wish. Do you know anything about sword fighting?"

"Yes. We learned it back in the Imperial Military Academy."

"That is good to hear. Shall we begin?" he asked and raised his sword.

"Ready." NZ replied and raised his. The training has begun… Meanwhile the super mega spy a.k.a Guilmon was following the "strange pair". He was proceeding forward, but suddenly he heard something. It was a sound of one steel hitting another. He moved carefully and saw the training in progress. He ran back to the camp as fast as he could, and he shouted:

"Everyone! Come quick! Ulairimon is attacking NZ! We must help him!"

This scream turned everything in the camp upside down. Terriermon said angrily:

"I always knew that he was a traitor!"

Just when Renamon was about to run and help, she noticed the note on the stone.

"Hey, hold on for a second, take a look at this." she said loudly. Everyone went to her to find out what she has found. Renamon read the note loudly:

"We are training in 500 meters distance north from the camp. If you need us, you can find us there. That is NZ's handwriting." Than everyone was looking at Guilmon, angrily.

"Hey, c'mon, who knew?" he tried to find an excuse.

"Forget it, James Bond, not interested." said Terriermon.

Rika was going to get away too, but Renamon stopped her for a while.

"Aren't you interested in going to watch this?"

"Actually, that is a good idea. Let's go." Rika nodded, and they went. When they have reached the training ground, they have stayed behind the stone, where Guilmon was hiding. They have witnessed an unusual scene. Rika thought that the training supposed to mean planning attacks and various physical activities, she was training Renamon that way. She was amazed when she saw those two sword fighting. Ulairimon was attacking very quickly, and NZ was retreating, but he managed to block the majority of the strikes. "Ulairimon is attacking fast, even for a digimon, and that stormtrooper manages to block them. Amazing. What is the purpose of this training anyway?" Renamon asked herself as she watched the battle. NZ tried to go into a counterattack, but made a mistake, and Ulairimon, taking the advantage of the situation, hit NZ with his leg and made him to fall. "That was a dirty trick!" Rika said quietly to Renamon. Ulairi quitted the attack, and helped NZ to get up. He picked up his sword, made a slight bow to his "nemesis", and the training was about to continue, but Ulairimon halted him.

"We are being watched." he said.

"Really?"

"Renamon, Rika, if you want to watch, there is no need to hide." he hissed loudly. "We are spotted, Rika" Renamon said to her. "Well, what do you know." she replied and went out of her hiding place. Renamon followed her.

"Anyway, what are you guys doing here?" Rika asked Ulairimon.

"I am training my master to use a sword against digimon." he replied.

"Really? Let me see how much he learned." Renamon said and approached NZ at her top speed. Then she tried to hit him lightly, but her paw didn't reach the target, it hit the morgul-blade NZ was wielding.

"Wow, I'm impressed. You actually managed to block my attack." she said. She was really surprised.

"Oh Renamon! Come here for a minute! Remember I told you will get loads of melee training when you first got nailed by a common soldier?" Rika asked, ad her face turned vicious.

"Y…yes." Renamon replied.

"Well, now you will get two loads of melee training! And for the same reason too. And I think we will start right now." Rika said, and then turned to Ulairimon.

"Ulairimon! Can you train Renamon too? It seems she is lacking experience." Rika asked Ulairi.

"Can I have your permission, master?" he asked NZ.

"Of course. Do everything Rika ask you to do without asking my permission."

"As you wish, master." Ulairi hissed and then turned to Rika.

"I have the permission of my master. When should we start?"

"Right now, but there are two rules: not to harm each other, and do not use malicious dark spells."

"As you wish." he hissed and suddenly attacked Renamon, and she barely managed to evade that attack. "He is fast, really fast, and he isn't joking. Oh crap, how on Earth I have got myself into this?" she managed to think while barely evading another vicious strike. Ulairimon was attacking like wild, and Renamon didn't have any chance of striking back at this speed. Finally, she managed to catch his sword between her paws. "Gotcha." she thought and hit Ulairimon with her knee. But … Ulairimon haven't moved to protect himself from this hit, instead he hit Renamon in the face with his iron fist, and send her flying. "Why that double-crossing two-timing …! He planned this all along!" she thought while flying to the ground. Meanwhile Rika, who was standing near the stormtrooper, and observing the battle, said:

"Your digimon fights dirty!"

"Is that a bad thing?" he replied.

"Well, technically no, but still…"

"In battle honor equals stupidity. You must dispatch your foe with any means at your disposal. If you won't kill the enemy, he will kill you."

"Yes, I see your point."

While they were talking the battle was already over. Renamon was on the ground staring at the blade near her throat.

"Surrender." her opponent hissed.

"I surrender." she managed to squeeze out of herself. She hated to lose. "At least there are only few witnesses of my embarrassing defeat." she thought. Ulairimon helped her get up and asked in his hissing manner:

"Do you want to try again?"

"Yes. I think my mistress will not be satisfied with my defeat." Renamon replied.

"As you wish." he replied and attacked again. Only this time Renamon was ready, and managed to evade that attack. She jumped in the air and shouted:

"Diamond storm!" as she launched a barrage of diamonds into the target. Although the attack was pretty slow, Ulairimon didn't made even an attempt to withdraw from the line of fire. That was because the diamonds ricocheted from his armor, partially hidden beneath his cloak.

"God I love this armor." he hissed and waged another attack. This time Renamon engaged her nemesis in close-quarter combat, but no matter how hard she tried, her attacks were always blocked by either a sword or a hand. But it was quite difficult for her to block the strikes of the sword, because she was afraid to lose her paw. Then Ulairimon tried to use his "dirty tricks" again, and hit Renamon in her knee. She managed to evade the sword attack that came after this, but now her knee was hurt, because Ulairimon's boot had spikes on it. "He will keep hitting me like this, until I will be wounded enough to surrender." Renamon thought. Her opponent came closer and attacked again. He managed to hit her knee one more time, and this time his spike went deep in the leg.

"Arhh!" she moaned and fell to the ground. Ulairimon's sword was near her throat again and he asked once again:

"Surrender?"

"Yes, that would be enough for today. You have damaged my knee cup and I am unable to fight."

Rika and NZ went to see what is going on. NZ saw that Renamon's knee was bleeding, and took out his first aid kit. He took some bacta and a bandage, and quickly wrapped up her knee-cup. After that was done, he said:

"There you are, now you will be alright in no time." and helped Renamon to get up. She limped on her damaged leg, so NZ helped her to get back to the camp, while Rika and Ulairimon were going behind. Back at the camp everyone was curious what happened.

"What the hell happened?" Henry asked.

"Training accident." Rika replied.

Bacta worked perfectly. In 30 minutes the group went further… The sun was going to hide behind the line of the horizon. Children were preparing for sleep, and the night-guarding force was rearranged.

"Now, Ulairimon, you will go with Guilmon and Terriermon, to make sure they are not sleeping on their posts." said Rika.

"I can assure you that they won't." replied Ulairimon, and then said to the two shivering digimon:

"Let's go, we have work to do."…

The firs trio's guarding time was over, and now it was NZ's and Renamon's. As usual, he took his post on the ground, but what was unusual, is that Renamon didn't took her average post on a nearby tree, and stood on the ground this time, close to NZ's position.

"Why aren't you at your tree - post as usual?" he asked.

"After today's training I am not sure in anything anymore, not even in my powers."

"So, why are you here and not in the tree?"

"Um… to be sure none of us will receive an attack from the back."

"Oh, alright then, carry on." NZ replied with his regular monotonic voice. Renamon was not telling the truth, when she replied to him. She couldn't tell him that she was just a bit scared of staying alone.

"Your digimon is very strong." she nodded.

"Yes, he is."

"Do you trust him?"

"I am his tamer. I have accepted it and I trust him, as well as he trusts me."

"I see. Can I ask you one more question?"

"Yes."

"What will you do when we will finally rescue our friend and will go back to our world?"

"I will go with your group to your world, of course. Then I will find a job, and will try to live the rest of my life peacefully."

"That is good to hear. As for me, I don't know what I will do. First I thought that my goal in life is to become stronger, but now I just don't know what to do."

"I can give you a hint. You could continue to be Rika's best friend."

"That is a good idea. Yet, sometimes I hate that people die because of age."

"Better to get used to that."

"You are right… So right… Always right…"

Suddenly, they have heard something from behind. The sound was very weak, but still detectable.

"What is that?" NZ asked.

"Don't know, let's go see." Renamon replied. When they came back to the camp, they saw Ulairimon. He was sitting on the stone, and the strange sounds were coming from his direction. Renamon saw that he had some sort of a devise in his hand, and earmuffs in his hood.

"Is that … an MP3 player?" Renamon asked in amazement.

"A MP3 what?" Ulairimon hissed.

"Are you listening to music or something? Where have found it?"

"I found this devise 3 days ago. I was going to search for your group and met some people, who looked like your tamers. But they were scared of me, and ran away, and have dropped this. I have figured out how it worked. So I listen to it, is that a crime? The undead can't sleep and is forced to stay awake all the time, so what else I must do during this time."

"People who look like our tamers… Hm… this information is important. But it'll wait for tomorrow, now our tamers are asleep. Anyway, what are you listening anyway? Can I listen too?" she asked.

"Of course. Here you go." Ulairimon replied, and gave her his earmuffs. Renamon recalled the band. Its name was SOAD. And the song was called "Soldier side."

Dead man lying on the bottom of the grave  
Wondering when Savior comes  
Is he gonna be saved

Maybe you're a sinner into your alternate life  
Maybe you're a junker maybe you deserve to die

They were crying when their sons left  
God is wearing black  
He's gone so far to find no hope  
He's never coming back  
They were crying when their sons left  
All young men must go  
He's come so far to find the truth  
He's never going home

Young men standing on the top of their own graves  
Wondering when Jesus comes  
Are they gonna be saved

Cruelty to the winner, Bishop tells the King his lies  
Maybe you're a mourner, maybe you deserve to die  
They were crying when their sons left  
God is wearing black  
He's gone so far to find no hope  
He's never coming back  
They were crying when their sons left  
All young men must go  
He's come so far to find no truth  
He's never going home

Welcome to the Soldier Side  
Where there's no one here but me  
People all grow up to die  
There is no one here but me

Welcome to the Soldier Side  
Where there's no one here but me  
People on the soldier's side  
There is no one here but me.

Song ended. Renamon returned earmuffs back to the owner, than said:

"That is a sad song."

"Yes, it is. Now, if you don't mind, get back to your duties." he hissed back. They went. For the rest of the night Renamon didn't said a thing. A phrase from the song she heard got into her head. "People all grow up to die… That is so true. Rika will die some time too. What I will do then?" she thought. Then she looked at NZ. "He is a soldier. He has a purpose to exist. And he is just a man. I wonder if it is a good thing or a bad thing to have the gift of eternal life… A soldier… The song is called "soldier side"… People can be so cruel… to themselves. That's it. I'm lost. Now I don't know what to think. But I understood one thing… I don't want anyone of them to die. And I won't let them…"

The sun was rising...

Another chapter ended. I am so sorry for this ridiculous foolish chapter, but this is all what I was able to think of. If you like or don't like something in the story – feel free to express yourselves in the reviews. Any opinion is important to me, as it will help me to anticipate any mistakes in the future.


	6. Chapter 6

A stormtrooper lost in the Digiworld Chapter 6 – Thoughts or Resemblance

A stormtrooper lost in the Digiworld Chapter 6 – Thoughts or Resemblance

This chapter would be different from the others. Hopefully I won't screw this one up. Anyway, I want to say thanks to people, who support me by reading this story, and especially whatisee, who posted his reviews. As usual, any reviews are welcomed, and, once again, I am sorry for any grammatical mistakes.

…"One – two, One – two, One – two. Damn, those guys even walk similar. Wait, why I keep thinking about them? I don't know." Renamon thought, while the group was marching. She and Rika were marching behind Ulairimon and NZ, and Renamon just had nothing to do, so she was thinking about … things. "They have the same height... Both have swords on the right side…Gosh, they are just so alike. Well, tamers usually have some resemblance with their digimon, but this… Wait, why I think about those two again? Ah, forget it, I'm too bored to control my brain right now. NZ – soldier of the Empire, unwavering, merciless to enemies, merciless even to himself. Faithful. Executive. That's all, nothing to add, nothing to take away. I have never seen his face, and for some reason he is always in his helmet. Well, another creepy resemblance – they both are hiding their faces. Ulairimon – supposed to be a manifestation of evil. Terrifying, dreadful, executive, merciless, powerful. Very powerful. Why are they acting like so? I don't know, and I will probably never find out. Well, I can understand why Ulairi is acting so maliciously, after all, he is an evil ghost, even though he is holding himself under control perfectly. But NZ is a human, and all humans I know act more … humane. Actually, I don't know much about him. All I know is that he resigned to his name, his face, his personality, his feelings, and even his life "for the glory of the Empire.", and now, when he has lost his primary goal in life, to which he sacrificed so much, he is going to make the same thing "for our sake"… It is almost like he can't live for himself, only for the others… Is this goal really worth it? But still … I remember, when he helped me out after the battle with Ogremon, it was something different. I actually felt there was a human behind that mask. Or was it just a trick of my imagination? I don't know. We talked much about things in our night – guarding hours. His thoughts are relying on two things: logic and loyalty. When logic doesn't work, works loyalty. And his thoughts are always easy to understand and almost impossible to refute. It is sad to see that he actually exists for the thing that is worth dying for. But who can blame him? He has nothing, besides his weaponry and armor suit. He never did. And he got used to the thing that he is just a number for anyone, and that no one would care if he is dead or not… Marching away, alone in the dark, fighting for cause nobody cares about… I will never understand… And there is his digimon. Ulairimon. Excellent fighter, his wrath means death to the enemy. I heard that such creatures form from a twist of dark power, and remains of data from the destroyed digimon, whose hatred was beyond imagination. He obeys his master without doubt. He looks like a creature of someone's nightmare, and scares the children with his presence. Undoubtedly he has no family, no friends. And who will even consider such a terrifying person a friend? No one in decent mind, that's for sure. Perhaps that thing explains the reason he is so full of hatred. Who would like to live in the world where everyone is seeing you as a monster and quickly closes the doors when you approach? No one. Hatred is a powerful energy resource, and it is helpful in battle. But not in the common life. I heard that the Evil's primal goal – complete world destruction. For what I understand, there are three ways people I have met so far reacted when the community is not accepting them: 1) They accept their fate and walk away. 2) They are struggling hard to make community accept them. 3) They are getting their revenge, and are trying to destroy the community. That must be it. That's must be what he is fighting for. Revenge… To stand with the sword against the whole world… Insane. Almost insane… But I saw him actually listening to music. A phantom whose existence is bending on revenge and destruction, listening to music? Something is not right here. And it was a good song too… Hm, another resemblance – they both are bearing a sorrowful existence. And while they are bearing it – not a word about how hard it is. Holding everything inside, never letting anyone share their pain. Gosh, it must be hard." Renamon was thinking nonstop, just letting her mind go free of any restrictions she put while serving Rika. And while they were going, Rika felt that something was wrong with Renamon. She was just staring in one direction, and was not speaking at all.

"Renamon! Renamon! Are you alright?" she asked.

"Huh? Oh, yes, I'm fine. Just got a little carried away with my thoughts."

"So, are you going to tell me about what you were thinking about?"

"If you really want to know this."

"Yes, I do. Now spill it!"

"Well… fine I'll tell you. I was thinking about those two in front of us. Don't ask me why, because I don't know myself."

"Really? You know, I was thinking about the same thing recently." Rika replied.

"And?"

"Well, I can say that they are quite strange. As you know, I hate to be wrong, but this case just turns every thought upside down. I used to see only bad thing in people. And when we first met NZ – 13, I was pretty sure he was nothing but a mindless puppet, a heartless machine, at least that's what I heard from Henry. But now, when I think about it, mind always give me images of him helping you and Henry in the desert, in fact, helping all of us back there, and him treating your wounds two times… Look at him, the desert is long gone, and he still is carrying our backpacks on his shoulder. I just don't know what to think, it could be a pure dedication to his job, and it could be something more than just that. I guess that after all what happened, we all might call NZ a friend. I don't know what his motives to help us are. I want to believe that he is a good man, but his appearance is, well, solid, scary. Henry told me that their armor was made like so to intimidate the enemy, and I can say that people who invented this armor suit did the job well. For now he is a disciplined and executive member of our team, and this armor sealed any emotions of his inside of him. You know, he reminds me of you, when we first met, you were almost like him, only without a mask… As for his digimon, well, that is another story. I don't know if I can trust him, but I admire his power. I think you have much to learn from him. Oh, and he is also quite terrifying. I will never forget that shriek of his…" she finally ended her long speech.

"NZ don't talk much about himself, does he?"

"If you are that curious about it, go ahead and ask NZ when you are in night-watch with him again. You seem to have some conversation then. If he will tell you something, tell me about it too, because I am also curious."

"How did you know that we were talking during the night patrol?"

"Terriermon told me."

"Oh, very well, I'll ask him. But still, just look at us, thinking how we can annoy those two."

"Got any better ideas? Besides, it drives me crazy when I don't have a clear opinion about a person."

"Fine, just calm down."

They kept going, and Renamon was in deep in her thoughts again. "Those two… Damn! Why I just can't get them out of my head! If that is some mind trick played by Ulairimon, I'm going to show him…" she was going to finish the thought, but accidently hit a branch with her head.

"Arhh!"

"Great job, stupid. Better watch when you're going." Rika replied.

"Yeah, right, sorry." Renamon replied. Everything was a little blur after the hit. Then she looked at Rika. "What is that violet … aura around Rika? I must have hit myself pretty hard, because I hallucinate that I see auras. Terriermon and Henry have a relaxing green color, Guilmon and Takato have an energizing yellow, and those two… black? Oh no…" she thought and shook her head. The vision vanished. "That is it. No more thinking without looking, where I am going. But still, was it the effect of the hit or not? Calm down Renamon, you are just tired or something, and there is nothing strange in travelling with a lifeless soldier from one weird future and an emanation of evil. Yeah, right… but still…"

They kept going… The night was approaching, and everyone was preparing to sleep. Renamon and NZ went to patrol, as always. This time Renamon had some questions.

"NZ, can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Can you tell me about yourself?"

"As you wish. I, NZ-13 was born…"

"Wait, not your biography."

"What do you mean in "tell me about yourself" then?"

"Well, I mean, did you had any family, friends back in your reality?"

"Family – no. Orphanage. Friends – no, comrades – yes."

"Is there a difference between a comrade and a friend?"

"Yes. Comrade is a person who fights for the same cause as you. We are not allowed to have friends. That measure is made to delete any hesitation if their "friends" prove to be traitors."

"That's cruel."

"But efficient."

"Have you ever thought than you are something else, than just a soldier?"

"No. Why have you asked?"

"Because in peaceful life people do not have to put themselves in such harsh disciplinary restricts. Because they are needed only to kill more efficiently. Am I correct?"

"Yes."

"You are not in the Empire now. Will you continue to be a lifeless cold stormtrooper when we are done with our matters here?" Renamon asked. Then NZ turned his head and looked right in her eyes. She tried to hold that look, but all she has seen was dark lenses of his helmet.

"If I must."

"But you shouldn't. Have ever thought that when you will finally defeat your enemies and there will be peace, you will become useless? What will you do then?"

"I will wait for the time I will be needed again."

"Have you ever received any thanks for your doings?"

"No. Only curses. Our job is not the cleanest, you know."

"That's what I thought. You said that when we will go back, you will try to find a decent job and will try to live peacefully. How exactly you are going to do that with such attitude?"

"In your world there is an army, right?"

"Err, yes. But it is rarely used. All current conflicts are resolved through diplomacy."

"See, I will serve as always and even will not be shot all the time. It is actually a good thing"

"Are you saying that you are scared of death?" Renamon asked with a bit of amazement in her voice.

"Anyone, who says that he is not scared of death, is a liar. We all are scared of death, but we were taught to comprehend that fear. "

"Oh, I see. I'm sorry, I will not bother you any more. I guess I'm quite annoying with these questions."

"You are not bothering me. It is actually quite pleasant to have the opportunity to talk to someone."

"Really?"

"Yes. But I think I have missed the point of the discussion. In what you were trying to convince me?"

"In the fact that it is not good to oppress yourself and follow restrictions where it is not needed."

"I remember what our sergeant said back in the Academy: Stormtrooper is not a profession, it is a state of mind. It is too late to change. I am used to live with those restrictions and I doubt that this thing need changing."

"It is hard to argue against that."

"Probably."

"Well, fine then. It was a pleasure to talk to you and to know that my questions do not annoy you."

"Of course." The rest of the night Renamon was thinking … again. "Well, Rika was right. Sometimes to solve any doubts you just have to ask. Well, I know now. When people are changed, it is very hard to change him back. Well, I have to do a conclusion of what I was thinking about lately. And I have one: I thought that NZ and the soldiers of the Empire have no personality, but that was not true. Even "no personality" is still a type of personality, even if it is a weird one. And still, he had a personality. I saw a human with a very calm and patient temper, and who never really hated his enemies. He learned to kill without hatred, only with cold efficiency. And that is probably crueler. But still he was quite nice to whom he considered "on his side". So the conclusion is: he was calm and understanding for his allies and merciless for his enemies. So simple and correct. Yet, I still feel quite uncomfortable when a person does something not because he wants to do so, but because he was taught it should be so. Yes. That is it. He just accepted things that were implanted in him during his training as his own. And with time they have became a part of him. Now it is useless to try to change him back. And there is no need. I will accept him as a member of our team as he is now, and will stop complaining. Hopefully Rika will understand me."

The sun was rising...

I am terribly sorry if it is bad or too short or anything else. I am really ill now and it is hard to create something with this headache. Anyway all reviews are welcomed.


	7. Chapter 7

A stormtrooper lost in the Digiworld Chapter 7 – The Oracle

A stormtrooper lost in the Digiworld Chapter 7 – The Oracle.

Hello, it's me again. I am quite sick, but I still am trying to continue to write this story. And, as usual, I thank all the readers for their support, because the fact that someone reads this supports me much. And, of course, any reviews are welcomed, because I should know if I should continue to write this or quit because I am a horrible writer and the whole plot doesn't make any sense.

…For a few hours the group was going to the next point of their final destination. No one actually knew what their point looked like. Well, almost no one.

"Um… what we should find at the end of this trail anyway?" Henry asked.

"Well, I don't know. If our map wasn't lost by Takato, we would know." Renamon replied.

"Hey! I said I was sorry!"

"That doesn't change the fact that we are practically lost."

"I know where this path leads." suddenly Ulairimon hissed. No one actually expected him to know that.

"Oh, really? So where it leads, our humble turgid?" Rika asked with skepticism.

"It leads to a cave, which is also known as the "Cave of spirits"." he hissed back.

"Wow! The Cave of Spirits! Cool name. I bet there are ghosts there." Takato yelled with excitement.

"Ghosts don't scare me. At least, not anymore." said Henry and gave a not so friendly look to Ulairimon.

"You haven't seen anything yet. I am capable of much more." Ulairimon hissed to Henry.

"Quit it you two! Try to get along!" Rika shouted at both of them.

"So, what is in that cave?" asked Renamon.

"I don't know, I haven't visited this place for quite a while." Ulairimon replied.

So they went further. According to "tall, dark and rusty" the cave was in three-hour distance from their current location. Through that path there were still debates about the cave…

"Gosh, I'm so scared… What if we will be attacked by the ghosts?" Takato said with fright.

"C'mon Takato! You have been living with a powerful evil scary-looking ghost for a week! And after that you said that you are scared by some whimsy spirits?" Rika asked.

"I'm positive that I and Ulairimon will be able to handle those "ghosts". After all, in Digiworld all ghosts are digimon." Renamon said.

"But what if there will be a really really evil big ghost?" Takato asked.

"Did someone mention ghosts?" Ulairimon creeped from behind and asked in his hissing manner. And that scared pretty much everyone.

"Ahh! Don't do that again! You scared the guts out of me!" Rika shouted.

"Yeah, quit it! You're enough menacing already." Henry said.

"Anyway, when I was there last time, there were no ghosts around. So nothing will happen to you. Well, almost nothing."

"And what exactly you mean by "almost nothing"?" Renamon asked with suspicion.

"You will find out soon enough."

"It better not be a trap or I…"

"I assure you it is not."

Ulairimon left her and went back to his master. "What that walking pile of armor in a cloak is hiding again? This thing is getting on my nerves." Renamon thought while walking. But then she suddenly heard a scream from above her.

"Air attack! Take cover!" shouted NZ and started to fire in the air. It was a Harpymon – birdlike digimon, who was going to attack from the air at full speed. Renamon and Ulairimon acted quickly: Ulairimon jumped high and chopped away a wing with his sword, and then Renamon, who was going close behind, hit Harpymon's head with her fist. And after that a blaster bolt from NZ's E-11 rifle turned her chest and neck into a burned hunk of bloody meat. Harpymon fell down and disappeared into shards of data.

"Hostile destroyed." NZ said.

"Yes, but something is not right here. Usually Harpymon doesn't get in a fight that doesn't give her any chances of winning." Renamon replied.

"Wait, I hear something from the bush." Ulairi hissed. The whole group went to see what was there. And there were Harpymon's … children. Yet in-training level.

"So that's why she was so aggressive. She wanted to protect them." Terriermon said.

"Yes! And you killed her! We will never forget what you did! We will avenge her death!" one of them screamed. His eyes were filled with anger.

"I was afraid you would say that." replied NZ to him. Three shots… three burned bodies lied down. One was still alive, but badly wounded by blaster fire. NZ finished him of with his vibro-blade. They all have disappeared into data shards

"Aaaaa! What did you do! Why? They were harmless! How could you?" screamed Takato and started to pound trooper's breastplate with his fists. The others were too shocked to say anything.

"We must not let the avengers survive, they will cost trouble in the future." stormtrooper replied with a cold electronic voice.

"You monster! They were just children! How can you be so heartless?" Takato continued to shout.

"Only dead doesn't shoot in the back." NZ replied even colder. No one dared to reply to that. The group continued to move in silence, and only Renamon whispered to Ulairimon:

"What your master did was very cruel."

"Cruel –yes, but also necessary. I was going to do the same thing." he replied.

"You both are cruel. Hopefully the children will get over it."

"Yes, that is correct."

The rest of the trip to the cave the children walked in silence, thinking about what just happened in front of their eyes. "Oh my gosh, how scary that was. Military can make anyone execute the innocent? No matter if they would get revenge, it was totally our fault. Oh my…" Takato thought. "Not a while ago I would order Renamon to do the same thing for her to get more data, but now…" thought Rika. "Nothing unusual. Imperial stormtroopers truly are merciless to the enemy." that's what thought Henry. The path finally leads them to a big hole in the mountain. The cave… It was big enough for a tall human to enter. The ceiling was covered by stalactites of various forms and sizes. There was no smell of something rotten, or stuffy air, the cave itself was pretty clean, almost like if someone cleaned it. No bats, no snakes, no bugs, no nothing. It was very dark in the cave, so NZ turned on his flashlight, because he was the only one who had such a thing. The beam of light accidently fell on the "face" of Ulairimon…

"Arhh! Don't do that again! Uhhrrr…" he hissed with pain.

"What happened?" asked Rika.

"The light… could burn me… down…" Ulairimon hissed, while hanging to his face. In few minutes he was fine and the team continued through the cave.

"You saw what a puny flashlight did to him?" Takato asked Rika quietly.

"Yes. I did. It seems that the light must be his only weakness. That is probably why he wears the hood and the cloak."

"But Guilmon saw nothing under his hood few days ago. There was nothing under it!"

"Maybe his face and his flesh cannot be seen by the human eye."

"Oh, never thought of that before."

"Of course you didn't pee-brain!"

As they went further, the cave path became narrower, and Ulairimon, the tallest one in the group, was forced to bow down in order to go along. The path lasted for 30 minutes, and this fact was not appreciated by some people.

"Where are we going anyway?" asked Terriermon.

"Well, according to our "light hater" to the other side of the mountain" replied Guilmon.

"Could you be quiet for a while?" Ulairimon hissed terribly.

"Oh, please, you're just sore you hit the ceiling to times with that big head of yours." replied Rika.

"Just shush already. We are almost there." he hissed back.

And in two minutes the path, which was quite narrow, lead them to a giant cave hall. In the center of it were 14 torches burning, and they formed a circle. And in the center of a circle there was a cave. Suddenly everyone heard a weak voice:

"So, Iron fist, you came after all. And you have brought some friends." then an old woman came out of the shadow. She was really old, and was wearing an old Japanese kimono.

"Greetings, Oracle." Ulairimon hissed back.

"Wait, an Oracle? Iron fist? Ulairimon, you two know each other? Explain this now!" said Renamon.

"I'll make it all clear. Yes, indeed, I am an Oracle, and I and Iron fist know each other. It happened very long ago… He was just a loyal servant to a powerful, yet, very arrogant lord, who came to me to ask about his future, and Iron fist was escorting him... He didn't ask me for a prediction that time. And that lord wanted to conquer the whole Digiworld. So, tell me, Iron fist, was my prediction true or false? I don't go outside, and the news from outside don't come here very often."

"Your prediction was true. My former master, Dark Lord Saurmon, has fallen, his armies are destroyed, and his capital lies in ruins. We have failed." Ulairimon hissed.

"Ouch, Dark Lords, armies, Iron fist… The guy has some really fascinating biography." Takato gasped.

"Yeah, no joke. He must be really old." Terriermon replied.

"So, why have you come this time?" the Oracle asked.

"We were just going to the opposite end of this cave." Ulairi hissed.

"Don't you and your friends want a prediction? I have company quite rarely."

"Yeah! Cool, a prediction! I'm first!" shouted Takato and ran forward.

"Very well, Young fire, come to the table and take a seat. Give me your hand." Oracle asked.

"Is this chiromancy of some sort?" Takato asked.

"No, child. I'm blind, so I can't read your future by palm. Listen carefully to what I am going to say, Young fire, for it will prove useful to you. Listen:

You, boy, are the emanation of kindness

And all things you do are perfectly harmless

To all those who are depressed you are like a sun beam

Truly the heart and the soul of the team.

Now go, and don't fear the reign of the night

Always believe in the strength of the light."

"Wow, I didn't know that I was that important, thanks a bunch!" Takato said and got back. Soon the line formed to the table. The next one was Henry.

"So, sit down and give me your hand, child." Henry gave her his hand, and the expression on her face changed to a very calm one.

"You are quite unusual, I have rarely met someone like you. Listen:

It is your purpose, my friend

To support, to protect

And when the hope seems to be lost

You care much more not for you, for the most

Your calm mind and voice will help all those in need

Your soul is so mild, something that rarely I meet."

"Thank you." Henry said, and left. The next one in line was Renamon.

"Well, young kitsune, you also want to know something. I will try to help you with that. Give me your paw and listen:

You have went through the challenges, being ready for more

But something has happened, you are not like before

Calm yourself down, there is nothing to fear

It is perfectly normal for a living to feel.

Continue your way, don't go off the right track

Because if you do, two souls will be wrecked."

Renamon thanked the old woman politely and left, giving the turn to Rika.

"Well, it is your turn, and I will tell you everything I can, Violet. Listen:

It was cruel enough to left

A helpless child without care

And it is just not fair to ask

For "nothing" something in return

But the world changes, broken pieces reunite once more

Cheer up, little girl, now you are not alone."

The next was Terriermon.

"Another digimon. There are quite a lot of you. Listen:

You are just like your master

You both share the same essence

And to be friends forever

It's what you are destined

Go with him through fire

Till dark days are gone

Be with your friends and allies

That's where you belong."

"Thank you, vice Oracle." he thanked her and left. The next and the last in line was Guilmon.

"Be ready for the battles that lie ahead

Never retreat in the face of danger

Train hard and then you'll be prepared

To face something, to what you must not surrender.

Your future is hidden by the fog of war

And I can't tell what could be waiting

It may be great victory

Or a great moan

Of defeat, after which there will be nothing remaining." oracle said to him. After this prediction everyone was a bit scared. Well, almost everyone. NZ and Ulairimon were standing in the dark corner waiting for this to end.

"Do you and your master want a prediction, Iron fist?" she asked.

"Is it necessary?" asked NZ and Ulairi at he same time.

"Yeah, c'mon, there's nothing to lose, and it's free!" said Rika and Takato at the same time

"Fine, I will go." said NZ and approached the table.

"Give me your hand, soldier, and I will tell you about what awaits you."

"As you wish." NZ replied and gave her his hand. The Oracle's face became serious and cold. Then she said:

"Listen to me, Unknown soldier:

You were going under the rain of fire

And marched through the cold mountains

And fought hard for the idea

That you considered to be the brightest

But under hard shell your thoughts remain hidden

There, where you will go, kindness should not be forbidden."

"Thank you." he replied coldly, as usual, and returned to the rest of the group.

"Well, Iron fist, you are the last one. Give me your hand, I will try to help you." Oracle said to Ulairimon. He silently came and gave her his hand. Oracle's face changed once again. It was expressing terrible pain, almost like she was hit by electricity, and then fell of her chair.

"What was that? What did you do?" Takato shouted.

"I did nothing." he hissed back.

"That is not his fault." replied the Oracle. "It is amazing, I was never hit so hard by one soul. Listen, Iron hand, to what awaits you:

In the deepest darkest shadows you hide

It is painful for you to witness the light

Haven't chosen this path, but there's no turn aside

Hatred and darkness gave you power and might.

Not to eat, not to sleep, not to feel, not to cry

The price for the strength was far too high.

Beware, fallen one, and I hope you are wise

For you hold the key to this world's demise."

The dark prophesy was spoken. Everyone was standing for a minute, gasping. Ulairimon stood up, and left, without saying "thank you". He just joined his master in the corner. Then Rika said:

"Thank you, Oracle, for your predictions. We will not forget them."

"You're welcome, child."

Then the whole group bowed politely, and went further. The exit was just around the corner, where NZ and Ulairi were standing. They have made it out of the cave. The vast forests of Digiworld awaited them…

Well, another one done. I am desperate for any reviews. And I am sorry for any grammar mistakes and for my poor poetry.


	8. Chapter 8

A stormtrooper in the Digiworld Chapter 8: Strange woods…

A stormtrooper lost in the Digiworld Chapter 8: Strange woods…

It's me again. I continue to write this…, still, the lack of new reviews is making me uneasy. Even one new review will make me very happy. You can openly write what you don't like (or would like to change) in your reviews and I'll make sure to correct my story. Also I'm terribly sorry for any mistakes.

… "So, you served the Dark Lord Saurmon, huh?" Takato asked "you know whom".

"Yes, I did. But we failed, and the result was the destruction of all we worked so hard on." Ulairimon replied.

"Did you just say "we"? There was someone else with you?"

"Yes, my eight brothers…"

"You had brothers? How did they look like?"

"Just like me. My eight brothers… my family."

"Oh, so what happened to them?"

"They are deleted. Can you change the subject, please? Let's not bother an old memory." hissed Ulairimon.

"Sorry that I asked. Can I ask why have you fought on the side of evil?" Takato asked.

"Yes, you can. We all wanted power. And my former master gave us a part of his immense power. The next stage in my digievolution is Saurmon, and if I will evolve, I will become as strong as him. But the evolution requires great amounts of data and training, so it is very hard, almost impossible. I have fought many battles, vanquished countless enemies, and all was in vain."

"And then you decided to look for a tamer?"

"No, actually my former master gave me a hint. He didn't know why we're not able to evolve, and suggested such an idea."

"So, was your Dark Lord slain in battle?"

"Only the first time."

"What do you mean?"

"Our master was also known for his wisdom. He found a way to survive the deletion. He split his data in two pieces, and gathered one piece in an artifact. When he had that artifact, he could fight with full strength, however, if he was deleted, than the artifact would reconstruct the other half slowly. But if the artifact would be destroyed, than Saurmon would parish too. And the artifact was destroyed."

"I see. Well, I hope you will become stronger, as you desire. After all, you struggled so hard to achieve this goal."

"Yes, I hope so too." Ulairimon hissed. Meanwhile Rika, who was walking behind NZ, and overheard the discussion between Takato and Ulairimon, remembered that Henry said some thing about stormtroopers serving some lord also. And since she was not having something better to do, she decided to ask NZ about him.

"So NZ, I remember my friend saying that you were serving some lord also. Cold you tell me about him?"

"Of course I can. I was serving the one known as Darth Vader, the Dark Lord of the Sith. He was the main commander of the Imperial Forces."

"Another Dark Lord huh? And what was so "dark" about him? And what's a "sith"?"

"Well, as far as I know, there were two groups of followers of an ancient cult that used supernatural forces. The first was the Jedi, and the second was the Sith. They were in constant war with each other. The first ones were supposed to use that force in the ways of the "light side", while the Sith were using "the dark side". I also know that Darth Vader was once a Jedi, but turned to the sith and I heard roomers that he has slathered the entire Jedi order, from masters to the young padavans, mostly children."

"All right, we will return to that, but now we have reached the forest!" Rika said. Never less, the forest was quite strange. There were no birds singing, no wind. There was an impression, like the forest was frozen. Creepy. The group continued to advance through the forest.

"This is some strange forest. Like an empty room." Henry said.

"Yeah, something is not clear with this forest. Be prepared for surprises." Rika said. NZ prepared his gun, while Ulairimon – his sword, and they have proceeded. Something was just telling them that something was not right with this forest.

"Gosh, it's creepy. I suddenly felt scared. Ulairimon, are you sure it is not your terror aura?" Takato asked, shivering.

"No, it is not me." he hissed. Then suddenly the whole group just… fainted. Without a reason, everyone, even Ulairimon lost consciousness. After two hours Renamon waked up.

"What the hell happened? Ah, Rika where are you? Where are the others? Gosh what happened?" she nodded, and hared some movements from behind. She turned around and saw Ulairimon, who was getting up.

"What happened?" he hissed.

"That the same question I am asking myself. Where are the others?" Renamon asked again.

"I don't know, but I think I know what is wrong with this forest."

"Really?"

"Yes, it is called the "Forest of separation". It has a special anomaly, it separates the groups of travelers."

"Great. I hope Rika and the others are safe." she said with a concern in her voice.

Meanwhile NZ was waking up also. He got up, and looked around. He saw those damned trees again, and no one around. But his hearing sensors spotted some sound, similar to snoring. He went to the source of the sound, and found Rika sleeping. NZ waked her up.

"Ah, what happened to me? Did I fell asleep or something?" she asked with a tired voice.

"I don't know. It seems we all were separated from our group. I'll try to contact Renamon with my commlink to find her current position."

"Fine, but I think I will rest for some time. I just feel tired." she said and fell asleep right on the ground

Meanwhile Renamon was thinking about how to reassemble the group, when she heard a voice from her glove. That's where she stashed her commlink.

"Renamon, Renamon come in! Respond! Do you hear me?"

"Renamon responding. Yes I hear you. NZ, where are you? Is there anyone with you?"

"NZ responding. Current location - forest. Exact coordinates – unknown. Have some good news for you: Rika is with me and she is all right."

"Thank god. All right, Ulairimon is next to me, he says that you should continue to go south, to the end of the forest. Oh, and could you take care of Rika for me?"

"I will do it, or will die trying."

"Thank you. Over." connection ended. Henry, Takato, and the other digimon were not separated, and quickly have understood where to go, they also knew that the others will find their way eventually. After all, they had the compass with them…

Finally, Rika woke up for the second time. She found herself under a warm sheet. Then she heard the mechanical voice of her… well, assistant:

"Good day. Did you sleep well?" NZ asked.

"Yes, thank you." she replied.

"I have received a call from Renamon. She said that we must go south."

"What ever you say. Anyway, can you tell me more about that Darth Vader? I'm in a mood for a story." she said and hid under the sheet. "So childish. She must have rarely received any bedtime stories." NZ thought and started to tell the "story":

"Well, after defeating the Jedi in their temple, he encountered his teacher, who was the one of the survivalists, on the planet Mustafar, the planet of fire and lava. From what I know, he was defeated, he lost both his arms, legs, was badly burned, and his lungs were burned too. But he was saved, and transformed into what he is now."

"How does he look like now?" asked Rika from under the sheet.

"Well, he is tall, about 2 meters tall, he is wearing a dark suit of armor that not only is made for protection, but also keeps him alive. All of the supporting mechanisms are in it. Since he was too hideous after his burns, he wears a mask with a build-in respirator, which helps him breathe. He has a low powerful voice. He is a great strategists and a great leader. Darth Vader is armed with a light-saber, a basic Jedi and Sith weapon, is able to block blaster-shots with it. Well, it is how I can describe him."

"That is pretty hard to imagine." Rika replied.

"I can draw him for you if you want. I'm quite a good at this."

"Really? That would be very nice. Draw him for me please!" Rika said with excitement. "I never saw her like this." NZ kept his thought for himself, then took his copybook and a pen, and started to draw. The figure was slowly gaining details, and Rika watched as in front of her eyes by a skillful hand was drawn the dark knight of the Empire. And indeed, the guy was just as NZ told her. The gruesome black mask, which covered the heavily-burned face, the mechanical armor, the dark cloak twisting in the wind, the burning sword in his hands… "Quite an imposing figure." thought Rika while watching. But one particular detail caught her attention. It was the mask. She looked at the mask from the picture, at the NZ, again at the mask, and then she finally said:

"Your masks are so similar!"

"Yes, they have been engineered to intimidate the enemy. But our helmets were not nearly as fearsome as his. When Lord Vader was leading the attack, we knew that we are going to be victorious. No one is as strong as he is, and no one was able to shoot him. I'm proud I served under his command." he replied. "There, done. Here you go." he said and ripped the page he was drawing on from his copybook and gave it to Rika.

"You're quite an artist. Thank you." she replied softly, and, after staring at the picture for a couple of minutes, put it into her pocket.

"You're welcome. Are you well rested? Because we have to go."

"Yes, I'm ready." she said, got up and folded the sheet. "Let's go." NZ had a compass in his helmet, and they went. While they were going, Rika took the picture from her pocket and started to look at it again. "Sure, there is the resemblance between Vader and NZ, but he reminds me of someone else… But whom?" she thought. After a couple of minutes she had an idea. "I got it! That guy reminds me of Ulairimon, in fact, he is like Ulairimon and NZ combined. What a coincidence…" she thought, and then asked:

"Still, I have to ask, why are you always wearing the helmet?"

"You people keep asking me the same question."

"Who else asked you?"

"Renamon did a couple of times."

"Renamon? Well that's something new. I'll have to ask her about it. Still, can you remove your helmet?"

"If that's an order."

"Well yes it is!" Rika replied loudly. "Curiosity killed the cat. Well, I can not disobey an order."

"As you wish. But it won't be pretty." he replied and pushed some buttons near his neck. With a strange sound the helmet was taken away from the head. Rika barely managed to hold the scream. One half of his face was fine, but almost all the other was hidden under a metal plate, and instead of the eye there was a black hole in a form of an eye, which had a red light glowing in the center of it. From the metallic plate to the nose and down the neck there were multiple scars, which covered the area like a net. Also were the remains of 3-rd grade burns. The other half was not damaged, and the only real eye had a black color, even the iris. He was of the age of 28 by appearance, but his hair was of grey – white color, like the old people have. After four minutes he put his helmet back one. Rika finally stopped staring.

"That is why I have to wear the helmet. Even my comrades were disturbed when looking at me." he said.

"What happened?" Rika asked. She still was in shock.

"Hit by a heavy anti-infantry round. I was lucky, usually it blows the whole head off, but my helmet protected me well."

"I'm sorry for ordering you to reveal this. Did you show this to Renamon also?"

"No, she didn't give me an order. And I cannot disobey an order."

"How old are you?"

"I'm 29 years old."

"Then, why is your hair of the same color as the old people have?"

"I was really scared when I was hit in the head. This resulted at my hair color. Initially they were black."

"I see. I will never tell anyone, and I also will tell Renamon to cease the questions about your face."

"You may do anything as you wish. The decision is not mine to make."

"What is with that attitude anyway? You always say that when you respond not to an order, but to a simple request. "As you wish" people are saying when they are obligated to do something, without asking their opinion. We are not obligating you to do what you don't want to do. You are even worse than me."

"I have overheard what were your people… I'm sorry, friends were speaking about you and your past. Anyway, I still remain an Imperial stormtrooper that is taught to obey and to hope for the best. So don't worry about that irrelevant thing. I'm used to that."

"Still, you haven't answered to the question. Why do you never say your opinion?"

"Because no one asks me to. No one did for along time. Just recently your digimon started to ask my opinion when we speak during our night-watch."

"Well, that is unusual enough. Why would she be doing that?"

"She said she rarely can talk to someone."

"I never knew… Perhaps I should have paid more attention to her."

"Perhaps." NZ replied. They continued their movement in silence. "Why did I felt sorry for him? I shouldn't do that! Nothing should bother me!" thought Rika and hear a strange voice in her head.

"Why do you think so? Because of your reputation that you invented for yourself? The whole thing with unhappy childhood and the stuff you made up within your mind to act like some sort of poor soul in angst? How pitiful." the voice said.

"What could you possibly know about me?" Rika asked this voice in her thoughts.

"Oh, my dear child, I know everything about you. I know that you like the thought that you are in pain and that no one around you can possibly understand your suffering. But you don't suffer for a long time, you were suffering when you were a small child, but that was in the past. I know everything you know, I am a part of you, I am you, the judge of your thoughts and doings, the one you cannot lie to. And I can tell you why you were so shocked when you saw the face of the soldier. This was actually the first time you saw real pain, when the piece of the flesh is torn apart. All the pain you "suffered" before is nothing compare to that. You also saw suffering when Ulairimon killed Ogremon with his "soul drain", but that time you managed to say to yourself that digimon can't feel pain, and that what you saw wasn't real."

"Stop pounding me like that! Why do you torture me now?"

"Poor child, I'm not torturing you, I am helping you. Do not try to be someone you are not. That will bring you nothing good, and do not try to suffocate normal human feelings. Be honest with yourself."

"Live me alone!"

"Don't worry, I have managed to say something because of the energy of the forest. Once you're out of it, I will disappear for a time, until you will come here again…" while that mind discussion was going on, Rika remained still, and stared at one point in the ground. And NZ was trying to get her out of this trance.

"Rika, Rika snap out of it! Respond! Are you alright?" he was saying.

"Ah… What? I'm alright. Yes, alright…"

"What happened?"

"I don't know, this is because of the forest."

"This forest should be considered a thread. It should be burned down sometime."

"That's too radical. Anyway, I'm fine now, let's go."

"Affirmative." replied NZ and they went. Meanwhile the second group was going south also. They didn't have any navigational unit, but they knew where the south was, after all, any digimon had some sort of a compass in their head. No one knows why, they just did. Ulairimon turned on his MP3 player, and started to listen to whatever he got in that apparatus.

"Again with that player eh?" Renamon asked with sarcasm.

"So? Think about it, there is nothing else I could do around. There are few things that I can actually do: I can think, speak, fight, move, and listen. That is all, so I'm trying to make the best of what I've got."

"No way, you're not joking? But there are only five of them?"

"What would I resolve if I lie?" Ulairimon hissed. Then he drew a small dagger from his sleeve, and pierced his hand with it. This surprised Renamon a bit, but she was even more surprised, when he withdrew his dagger from the "wound" without any sound of pain and then said:

"It is impossible to harm me with mere weapons or fists. I'm much more susceptible to magic attacks. Thus, I can't be wounded by blade nor can feel a touch. Essentially, I'm almost invincible."

"You're saying I cannot harm you with my fists?" Renamon said and made a step back.

"I was not going to scare you, I just explain why I'm caring this "music box" with me. So don't get too amazed. I think I deserve some pleasant things in my existence."

"Well, yes, everyone deserves."

"Then, what's the problem?"

"No problem at all." replied Renamon and silenced. "I am sure I don't want to be in his shoes. He is a lot more powerful than me, but he became the thing that my tamer Rika called "Battling data". He is not capable of doing anything else. Too bad for him." she thought.

"Anyway, what are you listening now?"

"Oh, it's my favorite. It's called "The end of all hope". I don't know the singer."

"Can I listen too?"

"Of course." he hissed and gave her his earmuffs. The song was already played for some time, so she heard just one of the last couplets:

"It is the end of all hope  
To lose the child, the faith  
To end all the innocence  
To be someone like me  
This is the birth of all hope  
To have what I once had  
This life unforgiven  
It will end with a birth

Mandylion, without a face  
Deathwish without a prayer  
End of hope  
End of love  
End of time, the rest is silence."

"Well, that's an interesting song." she replied after the song ended. "Do all of the songs have text like this one?"

"Yes. It is almost like the devise was left on the ground on purpose. This is the best gift life had to offer me in years."

"What was the last gift of the life besides that MP3?"

"It was when I have met my first master, Saurmon, when he gave me the power. That was the last, and, in fact, the first one."

"Oh, I see." Renamon said. "No much good things happened to him, if he is that happy that he has that player." she thought and then remembered the part of his prophesy, which said about "the world's demise."

"Can you tell me what the last stage of your evolution is?"

"It's Morgothmon. If I will ever get to that stage, I will be UNSTOPPABLE. I will be able to destroy anything. Even the immense power of my former master is nothing compare to the power of that stage." he hissed.

"Hopefully I won't be around to see It." said Renamon. "Holy cheesecake, the potential is that BIG?"

"Calm down, I will be long dead before I will even get a chance of becoming the Overlord of Terror."

"Yeah, I suppose you are right." she said. Her thoughts now were with her tamer, who was away.

Suddenly Renamon felt the frustration, because she and Rika were separated.

"I miss my tamer… Hope she is alright." she mumbled, and she thought that this was not heard. But it was…

"She is alright, my tamer will never let anything happen to her."

"Still, I would be less worried if I was with her."

"I know my tamer. Nothing will get to Rika while he is able to pull the trigger of his rifle. I think that you already know, he will give his life to defend anyone of us."

"Is he that brave?"

"He is not brave at all. He just is not afraid. Not at all. I remember that he is the only person around that doesn't fear me at all. You, the other digimon and the children fear and sometimes hate me, I can feel it, because fear of the others gives me more power. But I have sensed nothing from him. Even when we were training, and I was trying to hit him with sword, he didn't shown fear as a reflex to a blow."

"That is … amazing. You mean you can sense other people's emotions?"

"Yes, any of them. I know that you felt sorrow for my master sometimes, and that Henry is scared of me all the time, even if I am not contacting him."

"Err, not exactly great news. I don't like when someone practically can read my mind." Renamon said. She was disturbed by the new fact.

"If it bothers you too much, take this. It negates my power." he hissed and gave her a strange amulet. Renamon looked at the symbol on the amulet, and then gasped:

"That is the Taoist symbol of the light!"

"Yes. If you carry this with you, it will protect you from my "mindreading"."

"Thanks, I am much more relieved now."

"You're welcome. I do not intend to mess with someone's privacy." Ulairi hissed. They went further into the woods. After few hours they have managed to get out of the forest. They were the last ones. The others were waiting for them for some time. The group reunited once again, and Renamon was very happy that her tamer was alright. And Rika was glad to see Renamon too. The "strange forest" was behind them, and their journey was going to continue…

Well, that's that. Hopefully you'll like it. Hoping to receive some reviews and I'm terribly sorry if the story was bad or there were many grammar mistakes. I really tried to do my best.


	9. Chapter 9

A stormtrooper lost in the Digiworld Chapter 9: Ambush

A stormtrooper lost in the Digiworld Chapter 9: Ambush.

Hello, it's me. I was not able to write for a while because I was terribly sick. Anyway, now I feel better and will try to continue this story. Oh, and by the way, I forgave my brother and sister for almost breaking my precious…computer. Hope to receive any reviews… some day… Also I am terribly sorry if my story is not good enough for you.

…"Again is that march… Walking and walking and walking forever through this road through the forests… I walk beside my trusted digimon and my other friends. We all go for the same reason. We must rescue our friend, Calumon. Takato, Henry, NZ, Renamon, I, Guilmon, Terriermon, Ulairimon – that is our group. And all are my friends… I feel that even if I still try to keep my precious attitude, I will fail to do so. I am surrounded by good people, who care about me more than I care about them. I can sense more "forbidden" feelings by every day. Now I can feel pity, fear and even compassion… or at least something like that. The voice that was speaking in my head was gone once I went out of the forest. But this strange voice was still telling the truth. And I should quit my paranoia that everyone around me wants to use me and my abilities. I am surrounded by perfect friends. Renamon, my soul mate, who is always so faithful in my abilities, and who supports me morally and physically, Henry, who is always so understanding and calm, and who will always find the right way, Takato, who's optimism is like a light of hope for all… Guilmon and Terriermon are also great companions, and Guilmon is so very friendly, and it seems that he can befriend anyone. And Terriermon is so human-like, it feels that you can discuss anything with him. NZ – a perfect soldier, his loyalty and bravery are unquestionable, he will always be around to help us. Ulairimon – a dark and reserved digimon, but we can always rely on his strength in battle… That's all. And we are quite a team. Still, I remember what happened in the forest, and I still feel guilty… I shouldn't let my curiosity take over. But still, I can't just throw that face out of my head. Damn, why am I accusing myself now? I only asked him, and he decided by himself… Wait, that's another lie. I ordered and I know it. And it was I who thought I was tough. I just never seen a real wound, I was living in my own world, with Renamon strengthen my cocoon… Well, I know that he is a good person, and that I felt safe while we were going through that cursed forest. And somehow I know that he will rather die than betray us all. I know I will probably hit myself in the morning for this thought, but I wish my father was a little like him, well, at least in part of duty and loyalty. I hate my father now though… He shouldn't have left us alone… Oh, I was falling in my memories again. Damn it, I should watch myself not to do so. I should still be strong… I told Renamon not to ask NZ to remove his helm again. I didn't say anything about what's behind it, but I think Renamon got the idea. We still go through the forest. I am starting to have a bad feeling again, like if something will going to happen. But still, our "fighters" seem to be ready. I shouldn't worry about anything…" Rika was thinking when they were going. And what she sensed was not a mere joke of mind. On the other side of the forest resided the fearsome Renamon clan…

"What do you have to say, commander?" Taomon, the leader of the clan, asked his Renamon – type apprentice. It looked like Renamon, only the fur was of red color.

"Our scouts have spotted a group of intruders. There are 4 digimon and 4 strange beings called "humans". The digimon are: one Terriermon, one unknown dino-type digimon, one unknown black digimon, and one Renamon. What are your orders, master?"

"Kill everyone, except the Renamon. If we are lucky, we might get a new add to our glorious clan. Sent ten of our best fighters, they will do the job."

"Your wisdom is unquestionable." Taomon's apprentice bowed and went. The assassins were prepared fast…

Meanwhile the group was not expecting the upcoming attack. Yet everyone felt that something was up. Just in case something will happen Henry made his friend Terriermon digivolve into Gargomon. The group continued to march in column, and everyone who could fight was on the lookout. They had to cross a wide part of the road, which had big trees and bushes on both sides of it.

"A perfect spot for an ambush." Renamon whispered to Gargomon.

"Yeah, better be ready for any surprises." he replied. But no one was ready enough for what awaited them. Ten skilled renamon', and each as powerful as the last one. They were ready to kill…

Rika's POV:

It all happened so fast… Ulairimon and Renamon managed to sense the attack. But not everyone. Like ten red lightings went out of nowhere. We were quickly split from our digimon, and they were fighting 4 against 8 digimon, who were similar to my Renamon. The other two enemies were going to attack us, and probably dispose of us, but someone got their attention from us. First approaching renamon received more of a dozen red blaster bolts and fell to the ground, disappearing in a cloud of data. The other one quickly avoided the same portion of blasts, and spotted the shooter. This renamon foe came in quick and broke NZ's gun with her paw, and tried to make an uppercut, but this attempt was blocked by the sword. NZ tried to engage in close – quarter combat, but it was futile. His enemy was far more powerful and faster, after 30 seconds of combat she jumped away and tried to pulverize him with her Diamond storm. NZ managed to evade, but one of the crystals hit his helmet, obliterating it, but not the head. Still, it was enough. He lost orientation for a second, and this red renamon got behind him, and turned his head, probably breaking his neck, or, at least, that's what I thought. NZ fell to the ground, his sword was tossed away, and renamon walked in our direction with an evil grin on her face. I was scared, again… Henry got in her way, armed with a stick, and, just when she was ready to smash Henry to a pulp of meat, she just stopped. She looked amazed, and just stared on the edge of the blade coming from her chest. Then she fell, and disappeared. We all were shocked too much to understand what happened. But we saw NZ again standing, his head was turned away by 89 degrees, and his neck looked broken. But then, his head started to turn to us… and I heard bones gnash. His helmet was destroyed, so now we all saw him in all of his … "beauty."

"Bwahahaha! I will have to thank the medics for my metal discs in the neck. The fool didn't respect the first rule: only the dead can't kill from the back." he laughed horribly. Then he looked at us with is half – human – half – electronic glare. He saw the terror in our eyes, and realized that he was not in his helmet. NZ hid his face with a hand and turned away. Then he said:

"Use your cards to help your digimon. They are in deep trouble." and took a blaster pistol from his holster, ran to the place where our digimon were holding their ground. Anyway, they were doing a good fight. Renamon and Ulairimon managed to vanquish two attackers by now, and Guilmon and Gargomon – one. The remaining five attacked Ulairimon simultaneously, but without result. He parried their attempts with his sword, and launched his devastating vortexes, which were feared by everyone. The leader of the attack screamed:

"We cannot fight that horror from beyond the grave, sisters! Fall back!" The remaining attackers run from the battlefield, and Ulairimon managed to grab and drain the soul from another one more of the retreating enemies. I have to admit that he is an impressive digimon, and his powers are deadly efficient. I have to admit also that my Renamon is not nearly as powerful as Ulairimon, who obviously had many years of fighting practice… Anyway, the battle was now over. We managed to defy the attack with minor casualties. No one was even hurt much, yet the foes were powerful.

End POV.

Indeed, the battle was finally over. The attackers didn't expect such a heavy resistance, and retreated, losing more than a half of their squad. The team lost none. And none got any wounds either. Enemy concentrated the attack on the strongest one – Ulairimon, who was immune to their pathetic melee combat skills. Well, at least, they seemed pathetic to him. NZ was still gathering the remains of his helmet. It was completely busted, but he managed to find a commlink, which was working, and extracted it. Renamon heard voice from her hidden commlink.

"Renamon, just checking if my commlink works. Respond at once."

"Renamon responding. I hear you loud and clear, NZ." she replied.

"Great. Over." he replied, than he returned to the rest of the group. Everyone was staring at him for 5 more minutes. They all were confused, whey haven't recognized the stormtrooper without a helmet, and were horrified by his appearance, again. They already got used to his solid helm, and that quite hideous half-metal face could frighten anyone. NZ saw this too, he turned away for a second time, and asked:

"Am I really that scary?" His voice without mechanical jammers was the second thing to get used to. It was powerful and low, but still human.

"Well, not really…" Renamon tried to lie, but when NZ turned for a minute and looked at her with his crimson – red electronic eye, it made Renamon turn away.

"I'm sorry, I didn't intend to scare you."

"We are sorry too, we didn't have to react in this manner." Henry said.

"Try to familiarize yourselves with my new "face", until a will find another helmet." he replied. They all got out of the forest line as fast as we could, because the enemy should not be sleeping… NZ walked in the face of the column, in silence, accompanied by Ulairimon – the only one not terrified by him. Rika and Renamon walked next, and the darkness was coming, the day was almost over. Rika took the picture drawn by NZ not a while ago, and showed it to Renamon.

"Who is that?" Renamon asked mildly.

"This is Lord Vader, former NZ's commander." Rika replied.

"Well, did you draw him?"

"No, NZ did for me when we were at the forest. He told me that this guy has mechanical arms and legs."

"Poor him. You know, a servant is alike master…" Renamon replied. Meanwhile the last of the attackers were reporting to the clan leader…

"You have failed me, commander." Taomon said heavily.

"I'm sorry, my lord, we were no match for the enemy. Only the one black digimon had the strength to fight five of us simultaneously, not to mention the others. You have trained our fighters by yourself, and you know of what they are capable, but our two more were slain by this strange white-clad human, who used some kind of a strange weapon…"

"Is it so? Well, I suppose we tried to take down a far stronger pray with little forces. I believe that we must let them … pass. Our comrade's death was a lesson for us though… You may go, commander." Taomon replied thoughtfully.

"As you wish my lord." renamon commander replied, bowed and left… Another night was not quite as usual. Because of the ambush the group has beaten it was decided to make all digimon and one particular human to stay on guard all night. Yet NZ was not exactly guarding, he tried to fix his broken rifle, and he used everything he got his hands on to fix it. He even tried to take some details from his D-Power, but everyone considered him that this was not such a bright idea. So now he was just gathering the pieces of his E-11, his blaster pieces and some other stuff he managed to find in his backpack. Terriermon, as usual, was not far away, when it comes to weaponry.

"What are you doing?" asked Terriermon, who landed up on NZ's shoulder like a parrot. NZ took him and carefully placed on the stone nearby.

"I am repairing my rifle, it was heavily damaged." he replied without taking his eyes of the pieces.

"Oh, is it that bad?"

"Yes, it will never be the same thing like before, but at least I will get her to shoot." he said, and looked at Terriermon. His glowing red eye looked even more evil in the dark, and Terriermon had shivers, yet he managed to gather his bravery not to run away. NZ didn't say anything, and attended to the remains of his rifle once more… He worked on it for at least 30 more minutes, and after he finished, it looked like a crooked version of MP-40 rifle used by Germans in World War 2. Trooper reloaded his "brand new" gun and said to Terriermon, who was sitting near all that time, observing his work:

"So, do you want to watch it in action?"

"You bet I want!" he replied with excitement. Then NZ took a head-shaped stone from the ground and installed it like a target. Then he took 20 steps from the target and fired. The gun shot 5 rounds at the stone, not exactly fast, and not as accurate as before, but this was better then nothing. Only two out of five hit the center of the stone, and Terriermon went to see the damage inflicted. He was impressed that the bolt made a clear hole in the stone and busted through a tree behind it.

"Wow that can match my cannons when I am evolved into Gargomon." he gasped. NZ didn't say anything about that, and just tried to smile with the healthy part of his face. After the test he considered his rifle good enough to use, and returned to his usual post.

"So, how's your rifle?" came a voice from the commlink. It was Renamon from the tree.

"Good enough."

"You know, your gun is perfect for surprise attacks. I saw how you used it when we were ambushed. They didn't know what hit them."

"I suppose it is so." there was a minute of silence, and then Renamon said through the commlink quietly:

"Umm, thanks for saving our tamers…"

"It was my duty."

"Still, you managed to slay two renamon. Yet, how come you are still alive? I saw from afar that your neck was broken by the enemy, NZ."

"Metal discs in the neck, it's hard enough to break them."

"Hm, clever." she said, and after that there was silence. Renamon was feeling guilty, because she was not there to protect her tamer, and that Rika's life – the most important life for her, and also the life of others, resided in the hands of one … human? "Even an armed human is not much of a thread to a clever digimon. Still, my respect towards this particular human soldier is growing. He maybe weak compared to digimon, but not afraid to fight…" Renamon thought, while sitting on the top of the tree. She never said much, because there was no one to talk to, and she was afraid that someone will laugh at her. There were two things she was afraid of: first was the death of her tamer, and the second was humiliation. That's basically why she never talked much to anyone, and kept her thoughts for herself. "If only there was a person I could ask an advice on this problem, which I have… "she thought. After a minute Renamon turned her commlink on again.

"Err, NZ? Can I ask you something?" she asked. NZ, who was patrolling on the ground, looked at the tree, where she was hiding, and a red light scanned through it.

"I have told you before and I can repeat it again that you may ask me anything any day of the week. What is on your mind?" he replied.

"Do you think Rika will forgive me for not defending her in time? I mean, she was so scared, and I was not there for her…"

"I think she will. And I doubt it was your fault too. And even if it was – well, no one is perfect. I think she will forgive you, Rika is a good girl, even though she is a bit shy to admit it."

"Thank you, NZ." she replied and focused on her thoughts again. "I sure hope he is right about it… Hope Rika will forgive me. I'm glad we had that talk though, I feel a lot more confident now. NZ is such a nice guy… Wait, what was that thought I just had? I must control myself and my mind also... But still, he is quite nice to us, even to me, never fears, never shouting, never arguing, never whining, always polite. Also I can ask him for a piece of advice and always receive a clear and impartial answer. And that's quite enough. I can even call him…a friend." she thought, while observing NZ from the tree. And he just stood there, like a statue, tirelessly staring in the dark with his rifle ready to fire. Suddenly, Renamon felt something going on in the camp. She stood up and teleported herself in the camp. It was Rika, she was not asleep, and was shivering like a leaf. Renamon quickly went to her and asked:

"What's wrong, Rika? Is there a thread?"

"Ekkk! Oh, that's you, Renamon. I'm sorry, I just had a bad dream, that's all."

"About what was that dream?"

"About the ambush and in my dream we were not so lucky…" Rika nodded, and here eyes went watery again, yet she tried to hold it.

"Don't worry, I am here, you are safe, nothing will happen. I'm sorry that I was not there to protect you that time…"

"I don't blame you, it wasn't your fault, after all, we now are safe and I was saved."

"Thank you for forgiving me, Rika. I promise this will never happen again." Renamon said quietly, and suddenly heard a voice from her commlink.

"Renamon, where are you? What happened?" it was NZ, who spotted that Renamon was not at her post.

"Renamon responding. It was Rika, she had a bad dream, and so I went to check out that everything is alright. I'll be back immediately."

"Roger. Remaining on post, awaiting further instructions. End transmission." he replied. Renamon stayed with Rika till she was asleep, and then got back to her post at the tree. She was much relieved after that, because Rika forgave her, and was not angry at her for leaving her alone in time of danger. Then she heard from her commlink:

"Rika forgave you, didn't she?"

"Yes, she did, how did you know?"

"The look on your face tells me the truth."

"How can you see my face when I am on the tree?"

"My electronic eye can see much better than my remaining eye, for obvious reasons, so it is not that much problem. I'm glad you have resolved your problem."

"You do? Why?"

"Why do you look so amazed? I thought it is normal to be glad when a friend has succeeded in resolving his problems."

"Oh, nothing, sorry…"

"I'm sorry, I'll try not to confuse you, yet I don't know exactly the source of your confusion." NZ replied, and returned to staring in the dark, trying to spot any possible enemies. Renamon really was confused, but it was not NZ who was the problem. "Why I am acting like so? I must be getting crazy or something, I cannot adequately react to a decent and normal phrase? I must have over worried today or something. I need some rest… no, really, I feel tired…" she thought, and then asked through the commlink:

"NZ, can I go off the post and get some sleep? I believe I'm too tired to react properly to anything." and yawned.

"Of course you can, but before you go, contact any remaining digimon to take your position, without any digimon around this part of the security perimeter might become weakened. " NZ replied calmly.

"Thanks." Renamon replied and went to Terriermon to ask him to hold the post for her while she is resting. She found him sitting on the stone staring on Ulairimon, who was staring at him also.

"Err, what you two are doing?" she asked. Guilmon, who jumped out of nowhere, said:

"They are playing "who will blink first" game."

"And who is winning?"

"It's a draw. No one blinked yet." Guilmon responded quietly. "I'm definitely going to be sick." Renamon thought, and whispered to Terriermon:

"Can you take my post near NZ's position when you will realize you can't win because you can't tell if he blinks or not?"

"Oh, alright, but why do you want me do guard for you? Going somewhere?" he asked and made a strange smirk.

"I'm really tired and am not in the mood for jokes, Terriermon. Thanks anyway…" she replied and went to the encampment. When she got there, she saw Rika once again, whose sleeping bag was away from the others, like always. Renamon laid near to her, and entered the land of dreams again… Meanwhile Terriermon was already at NZ's position, yet it was hard for him to climb a tree, so he stayed on the ground also.

"So, about what you are talking to Renamon about?" he asked slyly.

"She asks me questions, and I give her answers." NZ replied emotionlessly.

"Why does she ask you for advice, of all people?"

"Don't know, I am not a mind reader."

"Fine, I'll put the question otherwise: how do you think why she asks you for advice?"

"I don't know, I have never thought of that. She probably has her own reasons, and I don't want to guess what they are."

"You are a locked person, you know that?"

"What is a "locked person"?"

"You don't know? It's a type of personality who doesn't show his feelings and doesn't care for anybody. Do you care for any of us?"

"I care for any of you, that's why I'm trying to help when my aid is required."

"Oh, just forget it. You are hopeless."

"As you wish." NZ replied shortly. Terriermon was disappointed, he wanted to have a conversation with him about the relations between people or something like that, but all his attempts were in vane. He had a feeling that he was trying to make a hole in a wall with his head.

With such thoughts he went to the encampment, and saw the picture… of Renamon sleeping near Rika, so innocent and precious, that Terriermon called NZ:

"Hey, come here for a minute! You have to see this...". NZ came shortly after this call, with his rifle ready to fire.

"What have you seen? A thread?"

"No, put away your rifle, you martinet! Just look at them! They are so cute together!" whispered Terriermon. Even though he whispered quietly, this was enough to awake their "object" of observation. She also heard what NZ was going to reply:

"They should not be disturbed. They are tired. We must return to our posts now, so that the enemy will not manage to sneak through. Let's go." he said quietly, and went back to his post. Terriermon joined him right afterwards.

"How can you be such a stone?" he asked.

"We have other responsibilities, you should not leave your post just to stare at a sleeping comrade."

"Give me a break, I get enough of such annotations from Henry. Don't tell me that you haven't felt anything while looking at them."

"Actually, I did. I felt that something bad might happen to all of them if I won't be at my post."

"You are teasing me, aren't you?"

"I'm telling you the truth. I constantly feel the need to carry out my duties, and to be around in case something bad happens to any of you."

"Oh, so that's it. I was not expecting to hear that from you." Terriermon said, and silenced… The sun was coming up, and it was time to get the other people out of the sleep. Their trip was getting closer to the end…

There, done. I'm sorry for the time, I just was brain-dead for ideas, and it took me some time to figure out what will be next. Terribly sorry for any mistakes or anything else that might be my fault.


	10. Chapter 10

A stormtrooper lost in the Digiworld Chapter 10 – House in the forest

A stormtrooper lost in the Digiworld Chapter 10 – House in the forest.

It's me again with a new chapter. Hopefully someone enjoys this story so far… Sorry for any mistakes and stuff like that. Anyway, here we go…

… The sky was cloudy. The morning was rather cold, so it was quite unpleasant for the children to get out of their warm dorm sacks into that cold air. Rika woke up and saw her digimon sleeping near her, and who kept her warm during that cold and no so quiet night. She was about to touch her white fur, when she heard a hissing familiar voice from her back:

"Order your digimon to wake up and prepare yourself for the upcoming trip. We will move on in 15 minutes." She turned and saw that this was Ulairimon, who just stood there, with his sword blade down, like a senitel. His voice was quite disturbing, and Rika didn't really like talking to him because of that.

"Fine, we'll be ready. Renamon, oh Renamon, wake up, sleepyhead!" she said while slightly shaking Renamon. It was not hard to get her up though.

"Good morning, Rika. I'm sorry, I think I have overslept a bit."

"Don't worry, we would have never overslept, that ghost man over there was going to give us some rude awakening. Anyway, we must get going in 15 minutes." she nodded. It took her only 5 minutes to brush her teeth and to get in shape. The others were also prepared shortly…

… A heavy storm came out of nowhere. The powerful wind was very strong, and it was raining from a bucket. Thunder was striking without stopping, and the sound of shrieking thunder was horrible. The wind was able to rip big branches from the trees and throw them around. Because of the water the road turned into a raging river of mud, and forced the travelers to go off the road. But still, even though the trees were pretty thick, it was quite nasty outside in that storm. The drops of water from the skies hit the faces, catching the speed of the wind.

"We must find some sort of shelter!" Takato screamed loud, trying to out-voice the howling wind.

"Where do you think we'll find a shelter, peanut-brain?" Rika asked him harshly. Then Ulairimon came in again, with his dark cloak twisting in the wind in some form of wings, and he hissed loudly:

"I have found some old house nearby. Maybe we can hide there."

"You did? Awesome! Let's go there immediately! You lead the way." Renamon replied, she hated the rain, because it made her soggy. And indeed, they have managed to find an old-looking house in few minutes of walking. It had two floors, the windows were broken long ago, and it looked like it was deserted. It was dark inside, and no one appeared to be taking care of the house for a long time. It just looked deserted, dark, and not welcomed anyone. It was built in gothic style, and was like a basic haunted house from old movies. It gave the creeps to almost anyone, but the storm was getting stronger and there was not much of a choice left to them.

"Um, I think we should knock first…" Takato suggested, and knocked quietly in the door. It was an old solid door, still in good shape and an old metal door – knock. Still, there was no response to this knock Takato just did. This fact annoyed Ulairimon, who disliked the rain also, so he went to the door, knocked a couple of times with his metal fist with such strength that the whole house went shivering, and shrieked loud and horrible:

"Open up! In the name of the Mordor!" this time he gave shivers to everyone else, especially Henry, who was the only one watching the film where this phrase was spoken.

"Just like in the film…" he mumbled to himself. Meanwhile Ulairi, who didn't receive any response to his call, he took out sword of the scabbards, and busted the door down with his leg, even though the door was quite formidable. He went in, with NZ coming close behind. After that the others finally dared to get in out of that raining storm. The house was big, and the furniture was not touched. It was just covered with dusty white sheets, it looked like no one was around for a very long time.

"Talking about a haunted house…" Henry nodded.

"We must check the house for any surprises, just to be sure nothing happens. We must split up in 4 groups, each consisting of one tamer and one digimon."

"Agreed. Let's go, Renamon." Rika said as she went to one of the corridors of the first floor. Two pairs had to check the first floor, and two – the second. There was no light in the house, so for the sake of security each group received a torch, provided by Guilmon. They have split up…

Ulairimon blazed through the house quickly, with his sword glowing ghastly in the dark, which made it look even creepier. He was not afraid of any ghosts, because he was one of them, but he felt some presence when he first approached the house, and he had to find out what it was. And he sensed that he was getting closer. In his ghoulish manner, he checked the half of the second floor, when he suddenly heard something. "What is that sound? It appears to be some … crying?" he thought as he went to the source of the sound. He ended up at the entrance to some room, and prepared his sword. He was sure that there was something there.

"I'm indestructible  
Determination that is incorruptible  
From the other side  
A terror to behold  
Annihilation will be unavoidable  
Every broken enemy will know  
That their opponent had to be invincible  
Take a last look around while you're alive  
I'm an indestructible master of war…" he remembered the phrase from a song, and opened the door. The door has opened slowly, squeaking loudly, and as it opened, Ulairimon charged in and was going to cut down anyone inside. He saw something white in the corner of the room, and was about to make a blow, but suddenly stopped…And there was a weak scream… What he sensed was not an enemy… It was a girl, approximately 10 years old, dressed up in glowing white clothes, with white hair and red eyes. She was sitting in the corner with her hands in front of her as some pathetic type of shield. She was scared. "She is neither a human, nor a digimon." Ulairi thought, as he took away his ghastly blade, and kneeled down.

"Who are you, little girl?" he hissed, but that scared her even more, she started to cry again, though it was not loud. Then, she faded, and fell down. Ulairi first thought that he should dispose of her, but he failed to do so. He failed to raise a sword against such a defenseless being. Yet he killed countless number of digimon in his lifetime, he had a short-circuit this time. He knew what must be done, he failed, yet he tried. "What's happening to me? I hate it…" he thought, while just standing in front of unconsciousness little thing. "Why can't I just slay her? For the first time, I feel… powerless. A curse upon the world! Very well, probably that's a useless death, I'll figure it out later…" he thought again, picked her up and carried her out of the dark stuffy room. Then he contacted NZ, his tamer:

"Master, I have found someone. I'll be in the waiting room. Contact someone to take care of her, my appearance made her go out cold." and went there. The "waiting room" actually was the room next to the door outside, which had a lot of furniture in it, and several couches. While he was going there, the little girl woke up for a minute, but fainted again when she saw the darkness of his appearance once again. When he finally came there, he just put her on a couch, and went to continue his patrol. Meanwhile, NZ was contacting Renamon through the commlink:

"Renamon, can you hear me? I think we found something."

"What did you found? An enemy?" a quick answer came.

"No, apparently it is a child. Renamon, can you come over and watch over her? Ulairimon just made her faint, and I don't think that it will be a better reaction if she'll see me."

"Do you think she will not be scared of me also?"

"I don't know, from my point f view, you have quite a pleasant appearance, but just in case of that take Rika with you also. I am positive that this child will not be scared of Rika."

"Affirmative. We'll be right there." Renamon quickly nodded, and ended transmission. She called Rika to go to the waiting room, and while she was going, a thought has hit her in the head like a brick. "Pleasant appearance… Was that a compliment? Pff, no, of course not. A pure description of myself. Never mind." she thought. Finally, they made it to the waiting room. The girl who was just recently found was still on the couch where Ulairimon left her.

"There she is. We must to look after her, right?" Rika asked.

"Yes, we must." replied Renamon and leaned to the wall, like always. Rika, on the other hand, started to observe the fainted creature. The girl was quite beautiful, with very pale, almost white skin. "No wonder she passed out when he saw our "tall, dark and scary", I almost passed out too, and that' when he was acting perfectly harmless…" Rika managed to think while they have waited for the others. And they came in 5 minutes. First came NZ and reported that nothing suspicious was found, and then Takato and Guilmon, then Ulairimon, who busted through all locked doors in the house, but still found nothing else, and Henry with Terriermon came last. They were curious about whom Ulairimon managed to find. They all just stared at this little white girl for a while, and then Takato asked:

"What should we do with her, when she will awake?"

"Well, I don't know. Any ideas?" Renamon asked. But no one was able to reply, because this strange inhabitant of the house started to awake. She yawned a bit, and opened her big eyes. She saw the children and their digimon, and still was scared a bit.

"Uh, who are you? Am I dead?" she asked with a weak and quiet voice.

"No, don't worry, you are not dead, you are in your house and you are safe. What is your name?" Henry asked calmly. The tone of his voice managed to calm down the frightened girl a bit.

"M…my name is Susan. And you are …"

"My name is Henry, this is Rika and Takato." he pointed at the other children. "And those are our digimon: Terriermon, Renamon and Guilmon. We are their tamers." he added.

"Oh, nice to meet you all. I'm sorry I didn't opened the door, first I didn't heard a knock, and then there was such a powerful knock, that the whole house started to shake, and then there was a terrible voice which screamed: "Open up! In the name of the Mordor!" and I was so scared that I hid in one of the rooms. Then a horrible dark-cloaked figure with a ghostly – white blade came inside and raised his sword… and then I have fainted…" she said quietly and started to cry again.

"Oh, you poor thing. Don't worry, you are safe now."

"I have probably just imagined this dark… dark… Oh no! There he is!" she screamed and crawled to the other side of the couch, trembling with fear. She was really scared, and pointed to the dark corner of the room, where Ulairimon was standing, relying on his blade, and accompanied by his tamer, who's red eye was just looking horrible in the shadows. They were observing everything from that position for some time. Rika took Susan's hand and tried to calm her down:

"Don't worry, you are safe, we just forgot to introduce them. The one who scared you is Ulairimon, and the tall man with the glowing eye standing next to him is his tamer. He doesn't have any name, but we call him NZ. They are with us, they will not harm you."

"Really? I thought the death came for me…" Susan managed to reply. She still was scared, and was shaking like a leaf, while looking with her red eyes in the corner, where Ulairimon was standing. NZ noticed it and gave Ulairimon a signal to leave the room. Ulairimon went outside, and when he did, Susan managed to calm down herself a bit more.

"Don't worry, he will never harm you, he was just looking for any enemies that might have been hiding inside. That's why he was armed with his sword, and that's why he didn't stab you when he found you. He is not such a bad person, just scary, that's all…" Rika was still trying to calm the terrified girl down.

"You must be very brave to have such a creature beside you."

"Well, we got used to it. He's reliable when it comes to battle. We're sorry if we scared you, and Ulairimon is sorry too. It was him who broke through your door though… Anyway, what are you doing here, Susan?" Henry asked patiently.

"I live here. I know I am constructed from some spare parts of data, and that my name is Susan. It's so lonely in here though, you are the first visitors around here."

"Gosh, it must be so lonely around here!" Takato said.

"Yes, it is." Susan replied sorrowfully. Then another hit made the house shaking, and the smell of something burning came in the air. Ulairimon, who was standing outside, ran back in and hissed:

"Get out quick! The lightning just hit the house!"

"We must get out! Come on, Susan!" Rika shouted and grabbed Susan by her hand. They managed to get out of the house just in time, because in few minutes it just crumbled down.

"Oh my, poor Susan…" Henry nodded, as she fell to her knees and started to cry again.

"Where should I go now? My… home is… gone…" she said in frustration. The others were unsure how to reply, and, as usual, Takato came to save the day.

"You can come with us!" he said cheerfully.

"R…really?" Susan replied and whipped her tears.

"Yeah! We all will be your friends from now on. It'll be fine! Oh, and Ulairimon! Promise you won't scare little Susan and that you will not let anything harm her!" Takato demanded.

"You have my word." Ulairimon replied confidently. Then Takato turned to Susan and said:

"See? Now you have the strongest guardian around. He will never let anything bad to happen to you."

"B…but, he still scares me a bit…"

"Don't worry, he is perfectly harmless now. I can assure you that he never raised a finger against any of us." Takato finally managed to calm down this little, shy, and strange girl… The rain was finally over and the sun shined again in the sky. Everyone was happy to see it, and smiled, except Ulairimon, who stepped in the shadow of a tree, and, for obvious reasons, was unable to smile. The group, which was now in the total number of 9 people, continued to go to the point of their destination. It was strange that Susan didn't require any extra luggage, but it was probably because of her semi-digimon nature. In a couple of hours she managed to stop turning around every time, because NZ order his digimon to stay close to her in case of something happens. So Ulairimon was following her. In this time he noticed something strange within himself. Somehow when she was around, his eternal thirst for destruction and vengeance, which was his scope for so many years, started to fade. "Probably something that will fade in time. Nothing unusual." he thought while they were going…

Meanwhile on the other side of the forest, in the residence of Taomon, the commander of the renamon squad was listening to trial that was decided to be the punishment for her failure.

"Now, ex-commander, I have decided what punishment you will receive. You will go, and slay the black digimon which you have encountered. If you will succeed, you will have your title back, and without victory don't even think to come back!" Taomon said heavily.

"I will return with victory, or will die trying." the ex-commander replied and left, without even giving a slight bow before leaving. She knew that she will be destroyed. Yet she accepted her faith…

Two hours later the group found one of their enemies in the middle of the road. She was waiting for them.

"To get back into my clan with pride I must destroy you." the red renamon pointed at Ulairimon. He didn't reply, just drew his sword and prepared to attack. The red digimon, however, tried to attack first, but in vane. She launched one diamond barrage after another. She tried to hit Ulairimon with her paws. She tried everything, but it was futile. Ulairimon evaded them all with ease, and then pronounced heavily:

"Annihilation will be unavoidable." and began to attack. Susan just watched the battle with horror. She understood that the renamon was tasked to attack, and understood that Ulairimon's power can easily put an end to this... The battle was coming to an end. Renamon, who stood behind Rika, remembered her training with him, when he was able to dispatch her countless number of times. "3, 2, 1, 0" Renamon thought, and when she reached zero, red renamon was on the ground, with a blade near her throat.

"Kill me now." red renamon growled.

"With pleasure." Ulairimon replied and was about to pierce his enemy with his ghastly blade, when he felt that someone was holding his hand. He turned around and saw … that little girl in white…

"Why are you holding me?" he hissed angrily, and tried to stab the enemy, but it was futile, his arm was like made of plumber.

"Calm down, this death is unnecessary. If you let her go, she will not be a thread for us anymore, she will just go away." she said quietly, and this time without any fear.

"Scram, you pathetic fox, before I change my mind." he hissed to his enemy and put the sword away. Red renamon and the others were just staring at all this, gaping. It didn't require repeating to her this two times, she got away in a blink of an eye. The others were just staring at this.

"Did we just saw what I think we saw?" Takato asked, with his jaw leveling the floor.

"Yeah, she just managed to convince Ulairimon to show … mercy?" Henry added.

"I think that I must be crazy or something." Rika confirmed. While they were doing that, those two were coming back to them. "He is tall, dark, strong and evil, while she is so … little, white and kind… They are total opposites… Like Yin and Yang… Amazing." Renamon thought, while looking at the symbol on her glove. Those two came in shortly, and the whole group was still staring at Susan. Finally, Rika asked:

"How on Earth have you done it? I mean, you have just stopped our deadliest weapon from killing."

"I don't know. Somehow I felt that I must stop this, so I went to him, and just asked. I could never have held his arm, I am not that strong. I don't know what happened. It was like I was not controlling myself…" she replied. The other "hero" of this misunderstanding was asking himself the same question. "How did this happen? I am supposed to bring death and terror, I should have managed to slay the enemy… Who is that girl? I can't fight when she is near. I will find the explanation for that, and then I will… find a way to deal with this… my walking, living, breathing conscience, something I thought I killed long ago… I will not be stopped next time." Ulairimon was thinking. Meanwhile NZ was thinking about what he just saw. "Next time I'll go with him, to make sure that the enemy won't escape." he thought. "They have spared me? Why? I don't know… I'll never know, but I own my life to that girl… I will never return to my clan now…" Thought the ex-commander of renamon squadron, while hiding in the bushes taking care of the wounds she received. Their unusual trip continued…

There, done. Hopefully I will get another idea of how to continue this nonsense. But as for now, this is all I was able to think of. Ready for flames.


	11. Chapter 11

A stormtrooper lost in the Digiworld Chapter 11: Getting closer

A stormtrooper lost in the Digiworld Chapter 11: Getting closer.

I'm terribly sorry there were no chapters in the past 4 days. I was having severe problems with my internet connection. Anyway, I think I have fixed it at last so I'll try to continue this thing. Sorry for any grammar mistakes, ridiculous plots, etc. All my knowledge comes from my annoying little sister who keeps bugging me and some stuff I had to dig up in the internet, so that I wouldn't lose touch with this "reality".

… The group was nearing their point of destination. They already knew where their friend - the key to digievolution by a chance was. He was held in the palace of Zhuqiaomon**, **one of the four **Digimon Sovereigns** and the Guardian of the Digital World's Southern Hemisphere. They have made a big journey to save him from this grip and were not intended to stop. Anyway, the palace was in two days distance away… The tamers were having a quick break, the path was pretty rugged, and this tired the children. While the others had their rest, Susan got closer to Ulairimon. He was sitting on a stone brandishing his ghastly ghoul-blade. She noticed that he was trying to avoid her in the past 2-3 days, and she didn't know the cause. And she was quite curios about it. Ulairimon noticed her presence, as she was staring directly at him.

"What do you want, child?" he whispered calmly. Susan noticed that he didn't hissed, as usual, yet whispered. And this was a difference.

"Well, um, can I ask you something?" she asked shyly.

"What do you want to know about?" he replied calmly.

"Why have you listened to me when you were fighting this red renamon? What made you show mercy?"

"Never do that again. Never interfere when I fight."

"Still, why?" she insisted. Ulairimon sighed heavily, he didn't really want to explain, yet he felt it is required.

"I'll try to explain. I'm an Evil-type digimon, and I receive my power from my own hatred and from the pain and suffering of my enemies. I don't know exactly the cause, but when you are near, my anger and hatred just disappears, and I become incredibly calm. That's why I was unable to slay the enemy renamon, my hand became like of plumber, and in other words – I was paralyzed." he finished. Susan was analyzing his words for a brief moment of time.

"I am sorry, it was not intentionally."

"No need to apologize."

"You said "incredibly calm". You mean like now?"

"Yes, that is correct. Now I am perfectly calm."

"You said that you are an evil digimon. Who told you that? Why do you have to make others suffer?"

"That is my nature."

"But that is wrong!"

"What do you expect me to do? To fight against myself?"

"No… I don't know… Anyway, why does my presence has such an impact on you?"

"I don't know. I can only guess that you have the strength to annihilate my power. That's why I ask you not to bother me when I fight, you can make me defenseless and weak. And I must be strong."

"Alright, I will try. Why do you crave for power so much?"

"If I won't be strong – I will be destroyed. And I don't want to give the world a chance to dance on my grave-stone."

"What did the world do to you that you hate it so much?"

"Nothing personal. It is just that I fought on the side that opposed the current world state. And we lost, so this world now wants to destroy us – the remnants. And I don't want to be destroyed."

"For what have you fought then?"

"For power."

"But then, when you first wanted power, and when the current world was not your enemy, what made you to desire power then? Why don't you desire other things like other normal people?"

"Look at me. There is nothing else left for me to desire. The other desires are beyond my reach."

"Why the other wishes are not good enough for you?"

"I didn't say that they are not good enough. I'm basically a walking set of armor and a powerful ghost, who is bent to it. What can such a creature desire for himself?"

"You are a ghost? I thought that you are, well, that you are alive… You could try to become alive somehow…"

"What for? It's impossible anyway…" he replied. After that there was silence for some time.

"Poor you…" Susan mumbled.

"Don't dare pitying me again. There WILL be harsh consequences." Ulairimon replied angrily, very angrily. The last phrase infuriated him so much that the anger broke through the "pacifying" shield of Susan, and made her take few steps back.

"Damn, if only I had such a burst of anger back in the fight with this red renamon enemy, I would have destroyed her for sure." he added and walked away. She was just left there standing. She was scared again, this wave of hatred that broke through and slammed her was strong, yet she didn't know why has the fact that she actually felt sorry for this strange digimon infuriated him so much.

"What did I say? I only tried to be nice to people" she said quietly to herself, and suddenly heard a voice from behind:

"You want to know?" It was Rika, she was listening to their discussion from the beginning.

"Oh, it's you, Rika. You scared me."

"Sorry about that. Do you want to know why Ulairimon just got infuriated? And I do mean infuriated, because if his hatred for the enemy wasn't enough for him to overpower you, and this phrase you said just got him throwing the volcanic waves of anger around."

"Yes, I do, I don't know how in the world I have just offended him. I'm clueless."

"Well, from my point of view, basing on what I have heard not a while ago, and also basing on myself I can tell you that I could have slammed someone because of that too."

"But in heavens name why?"

"Because people hate the strong and pity the weak. And I believe Ulairimon hates to be weak. He reminds me of myself…" Rika nodded.

"You? I'm sorry for the frequent question, but, why?"

"Well, I used to be a nasty angry girl with a tomboy attitude and a whole bunch of complexes because of my father who abandoned my family and my irresponsible mother. I was so angry at the whole world and stuff like that. But I think that my little motives are nothing compared to his… I can say that I still am not entirely out of this tomboy thing, but I'm trying…"Rika added and smiled.

"Really? I could have never even thought of such a thing about you."

"I am telling you the truth, and I have an advice for you: it's a lost cause to make Ulairimon become kind or something. You would have better chances of convincing NZ that the Empire is worthless or to convince Renamon to paint her in pink."

"I understood the part about Renamon and pink, but about what Empire you were talking about?"

"Oh, I suppose you don't know, he was a soldier in the army of some Empire, a stormtrooper to be exact, and to these stormtroopers there is nothing more important then the Empire. He will rip apart anyone "for the glory of the Empire." He's quite a fanatic. This is probably after the training they receive at their academy. It makes them extremely loyal merciless and quite fearless war machines, and gives them a full body armor suit that conceals all parts of the body and makes them look tougher, more merciless, intimidating and inhumane. NZ had a helmet but it was destroyed in one of the fights we had earlier. He saved me and the other tamers back then though."

"In other words – it's impossible to turn him away from the Empire, right?"

"Yeah."

"What do you mean by "He saved me and the other tamers back then though."?"

"It was not a while ago when we were ambushed by 10 red renamon like the one that attacked Ulairimon. We were separated from our digimon, but NZ managed to slay two of them who had the task of whipping us out of our misery. He lost his helm in the process and was almost killed, but we were lucky enough that he stayed alive and protected us…"

"That's horrible. How he survived? Renamon should be much stronger than any human."

"You noticed that he carries a sword and a strange black object on his shoulder? Well, this object is actually his lethal weapon, capable of shooting enemies at long distances. He also is a good swordfighter, Ulairimon gave him one of his own swords and taught NZ to use it against the digimon. I even was at one of his trainings, and he is skillful enough to even hold ground for some time against my Renamon. Yet it's a shame that Renamon can stand against Ulairimon even lesser time then NZ can stand up against her… The darkness really gives power, but for a high price. I would prefer my pretty strong, yet alive and warm Renamon over some extremely powerful, but cold and emotionless undead." Rika said, and when Susan was about to reply something, they were interrupted by a low strong voice:

"Rika, Susan, the break is over. We must go now. Prepare yourselves." It was NZ, who was tasked to inform everyone that it is time to move on. And so they went… The night came in quickly, as the children prepared to sleep. After all, they needed all their strength to continue, while the digimon and one soldier were able to march while resting only a couple of hours per day. And every night they were patrolling the territory of the camp, just in case of any unexpected attacks. And, as usual, Ulairimon was tasked to look after the lazy Guilmon and Terriermon, who had the bad habit of sleeping on post, and Renamon was left with NZ…

"So, what do you think about he newcomer?" Renamon asked NZ through the commlink.

"I think that it is most unfortunate that her house was destroyed in the storm. It was our duty to help out."

"Really? That's something new to hear from the soldier of the Empire."

"Our duty was to defend the peace and order. Helping out innocent civilians is a part of our duties. Help the civilians, destroy the rebels."

"Perfectly simple. I understand. Still, you haven't answered the question."

"I cannot say anything against such a small child. All I know is that Susan is becoming friends with your tamer and has a strange influence over my digimon. Ulairimon told me everything about it, and I believe it would be better if she stays away during the fights, not only because of the influence, but also because she can also get in the crossfire."

"Ulairimon told you about this weakness? I'm amazed that he actually told you this."

"There are no secrets between us. A tamer has nothing to hide from his digimon, and inverse. We have full trust in each other."

"Really? How come I have never heard you two speaking?"

"I believe you know the answer yourself. I believe that the tamers and their digimon have some sort of communication between each other, which cannot be heard by ears."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that one…Wait! I feel someone approaching from behind you!" Renamon nearly shouted in the commlink. NZ turned around with his rifle ready to turn any opponent into Swiss cheese, but that was not required now. I was Rika roaming the camp.

"Rika, why are you not asleep yet?" NZ and Renamon asked simultaneously.

"I can't get myself to sleep. May I stay wit you two for a while?"

"Sure." NZ replied, and Renamon returned in a second with a warm sheet.

"It's not wise to walk around the cold camp in one thin pajama." she said while covering Rika with this sheet like with a cloak.

"I guess you are right. I just can't get any sleep, I keep thinking about the foe we will have to challenge soon enough."

"Zhuqiaomon? Don't worry, we will win and will get our friend, Calumon, back." Renamon said confidently.

"How can you two be so calm anyway? Don't tell me that you are ready for battle."

"Well, I'm pretty ready." Renamon replied.

"Infantry ready." NZ added.

"No, NZ, I think that you should stay out of this one. I mean, no one doubts your determination, but your gun will do no damage to Zhuqiaomon. He is just too strong. Don't try to shoot him." Rika said with concern. NZ just smiled a bit, and drawn some white cylinder from his backpack, which looked like a thermos.

"What is this?" Renamon and Rika asked. "This is my "last resort". It is the bomb we, stormtroopers, use to destroy heavily – fortified buildings, or for effective suicide attacks, when we are surrounded by the enemy. If there will be no other way, I think I will give this enemy a big explosion. The bomb is very powerful." he replied with an evil grin on the healthy side of his face.

"Err, that's it, what others surprises you have prepared?"

"None. This all is the basic ammunition of our soldiers."

"Anyway, you know what you must do. During the battle, if there will be a battle, your task is to support your digimon with your cards. Since I think that you and Ulairimon are unable to biomerge yet, you must do your best to keep Ulairimon fight. Also try to hide Susan somewhere." Renamon said to NZ.

"As you order, commander Renamon." he replied. Rika and Renamon stared at him for a couple of minutes, and then she asked:

"Did you just call me commander again?"

"Yes, when it comes to battle, you all are my superiors, well, officers. I will follow any order you will give Me." he replied.

"Well, you have your orders, soldier." Rika added. Then suddenly NZ shot in the nearby bush. There was some movement in the bush, like something running away, and then there was silence.

"What was that for?" Rika asked.

"I saw someone hiding in the bush."

"That was probably some poor animal. Don't worry too much." Renamon replied from the tree. They both didn't know that whom NZ almost shot in the bushes was the ex-commander of the red renamon, who followed the group in secrecy, and was hiding in the bush to hear about what they were talking about. "Damn that human is accurate no joke, he almost managed to blow my head away. That's what you get for hiding in the bush near a guardian who stands at attention." she thought to herself while fleeing and touching the place on the head near her right ear, which had some burns from a blaster bolt flying nearby… The next day was promising to be the longest day in their life, as they came closer to the final point of their destination. And they were somewhat prepared, but before the final opposition, they had yet to meet with someone… And that someone was waiting for them…

That's it. I will try to make the next chapter better. I know that there are no forests and mountains in the south, and that the group was situated from other characters. This is just what I managed to invent for my little sister. This never happened in the real thing, yet it has some connection. I am not afraid of flames though, as the story is almost finished.


	12. Chapter 12

A stormtrooper lost in the Digiworld Chapter 12: Rescue of the Calumon

A stormtrooper lost in the Digiworld Chapter 12: Rescue of the Calumon.

This chapter is inspired by the actual show in some pieces. Still, it's not the same thing in most parts. Here we go…

…"Halt, you cannot pass!" a voice came from nowhere, forcing the tamers to stop. The digimon who were with them haven't sensed where from the voice came out, and formed a defensive circle around the children, with only one tamer – NZ, who has joined the defensive perimeter with his gun ready to fire. Anyway, the one who pronounced this strange warning showed himself shortly after. It was quite a strange digimon, she looked like Terriermon, only with more horns on the head and was of brown and pink color.

"Who are you, ssstranger? And why do you ssstand in our way?" Ulairimon hissed, while pointing at the strange opponent with his sword.

"I am Lopmon, a former Deva known as Antylamon. I am the guardian of the gates to the palace of the Great Zhuqiaomon. And I warn you: go back! You will find nothing here, besides your own destruction."

"Let us pass or you will meet your own destruction now." Ulairimon hissed with offence and hatred. The wave of dark energy struck Lopmon off his little feet.

"Very well, if that is what you wish, but don't say I didn't warn you. Yet, I will try to convince my master not to destroy you all." he replied, while trying to stand up again. The last words infuriated Ulairimon even more, he was extremely aggressive this day. He was going to slice the arrogant rabbit in two pieces, but his hand was now held by Susan again.

"Calm down, please." she whispered, as the anger of Ulairimon started to fade away. Before they followed Lopmon, the tamers managed to biomerge (I don't recall how exactly it is called) with their digimon to form MegaGargomon, Sakuyamon and Gallantmon. MegaGargomon appeared as some kind of a mechanism with metal body and heavy armaments. Sakuyamon stepped out of the blue light in her shiny gold armor and a wand, looking most impressive. Gallantmon stepped out as a full-armored knight in shiny white armor, and with a shield and a spear.

"That's formidable." Ulairimon hissed in amazement. He and NZ didn't even have a clue how to do that, but Ulairimon followed the others, confident in his powers, his anger which formed his inner strength, even though he was now not as strong as his allies. Before they went in, Sakuyamon said to NZ:

"You know your orders, soldier."

"Executing orders, commander. Good luck to all of you." he replied and grabbed Susan, who was trying to pass through too, and said:

"I have orders to get you away from here. Things might get ugly and I'm sure you don't want to be around for it." Susan understood about what he was talking about, and went with him without struggling…

Meanwhile the digimon followed Lopmon to the Zhuqiaomon. While they were going through the crimson – red halls of his huge palace, Lopmon said:

"Near your allies you don't look so formidable, darky." the phrase was obviously sent to Ulairimon. The next thing the others saw was Lopmon suffocating from an invisible hand, agonizing. Finally Ulairimon let loose his magic grip on Lopmon, and hissed terribly:

"One more word from you, pitiful mortal, and your soul will become imprisoned and tortured forever, forming the strength of my cursed blade along with the others who dared to insult me." This fact sent shivers even to the tough digimon in their mega form, not to mention the scared to death Lopmon, who just felt the power of darkness on his own skin.

"R…right. I'll keep quiet…" he replied, while shaking. They have continued, as the MegaGargomon whispered to Ulairimon:

"You had to be so hard on the fellow?"

"When this is over I will destroy him eventually." he replied coldly… The long corridor went to an end. They came to a wide hall with a flaming pit in the form of sharp-edged red crown. There was powerful red fire blazing in it. And from that fire a powerful and aggressive voice came:

"WHO DARES TO COME TO THE ALL-MIGHTY SOVEREIGN OF THE SOUTH?"

"It's me, my master, the guard of the gates. These are the strangers that came to take back Calumon – the source of the digievolution. I am begging you for mercy, o Great one, they don't know what they are doing, and …" Lopmon tried to explain, yet this had infuriatedZhuqiaomon.

"WHAT? YOU, MERE WORM, DARE ASKING ME OF SOMETHING? I WILL DESTROY BOTH YOU AND THE INTRUDERS NOW!!" he screamed in rage and launched the devastating Phoenix fire at Lopmon. The whole thing broke through the wall of the palace, making a big hole for the digimon to get out, and Gallantmon managed to save Lopmon before he was going to be obliterated, yet Lopmon snapped out because of the terror…

NZ and Susan were not so far away from the palace, waiting for their friends and hoping for the best, when they saw the giant red fire bolt coming out of the palace.

"Looks like there will be a battle after all. Susan, you better go and hide in the shelter I have prepared for you." he said with a calm and unwavering tone.

"What about you?" she asked quietly.

"Don't worry about me, just hide." NZ replied and prepared his cards and D-power. He remembered what he was taught and was prepared. He got as close to the battle as he could, so that he could assist his digimon with the cards. Meanwhile the battle in the air between the 4 digimon and one sovereign was heating up. Zhuqiaomon was enraged and was trying to hit them with his Phoenix fires and Desolation blasts. Each of the attacks was capable of destroying any of the opponents. Ulairimon knew that his own attacks, even if his powers were doubled by his own rage, were no match for the supreme power of his enemy, yet he was still fighting madly, trying to hit Zhuqiaomon in the eyes with his dark vortexes. He even managed to hit the enemy one time in the eye, but this ended up enraging Zhuqiaomon even more, throwing fire balls in all directions. The others were far more successful then him. MegaGargomon was able to produce far greater damage to the enemy with his Mega barrages, and Sakuyamon with Gallantmon were doing their best also. They were formidable, but still their opponent was far more powerful. He was able to evade the majority of the attacks, and his own attacks were far more overfull than the combined attack of all four digimon. As the battle went further, the futility of the fighting the digimon god was getting more and more evident. The things went even worse when Sakuyamon, the strongest digimon of all three, was hit by one of those fire bolts. She managed to block the hit enough to stay alive, yet keeping the form was still impossible after the hit, and Sakuyamon was broken into Renamon and Rika again, as they fell to the ground…

A shadow sneaked in the empty palace of the fire phoenix of the south, and proceeded right in the place where Calumon was hidden. To sneak past the guards was not hard, as she was skilled in such operations. She new her scope and what she was doing. It was the red renamon, who followed the group for a couple of days now. She knew why they were here, and remembered that she was spared, even though she attacked first. What she was about to do was her sign of her gratitude. She sneaked to the place where Calumon was held, and managed to open the cage, even though the cage was special and it took special knowledge to open it.

"Hello! Who are you? Who are you? Tell me!" Calumon asked cheerfully as he got out.

"You can call me ex-commander. I have come to get you out of this cage." answered the red renamon and smiled. She knew that she did a good thing for a change.

"Come, your friends are fighting hard against the one who kidnapped you, and we must get out quick."

"Sure! Let's go!" Calumon replied cheerfully as always. It seemed that nothing could bring him down…

…NZ saw what happened. Their strongest warrior just fallen. "I will help them, even if it will kill me in the process." he thought as he charged forward to pick up the fallen friends… He ran as fast as he could, and got to them in short time. Renamon was definitely hit, she was completely powerless now, as well as Rika was. He managed to carry them out of the line of fire both, even though they were pretty heavy. As he managed to hide them behind the big stone away from the heat of battle, his little maneuver was spotted by the airborne Zhuqiaomon. "A human saving the digimon? Pathetic, still, my minions will make short work of them." he thought, and, by his mental command 3 horrible Vilemon, who looked like a wicked combination of a devil, a vampire bat and a bloodthirsty mutant, went out of the castle to find and destroy the wounded Renamon and Rika, as well as their protector right now… NZ spotted the 3 flying menaces approaching fast. He opened fire at the approaching enemy, and it was so accurate that he managed to take down two of three targets, but with the last one he was not so lucky.

"DIE!" the last Vilemon screamed as he attacked NZ. His teeth tore the arm with the gun away from NZ, and blood with pieces of meat and crushed bone dripped the ground abundantly. Vilemon continued his attack and sliced through the chest armor plate of the stormtrooper with his claws, yet the armor significantly reduced the damage. NZ fell to the ground, and, when Vilemon was about to bite his head off, NZ managed to penetrate his jaw with the sword, which he was holding in his remaining hand.

"ARHHH! DIE YOURSELF! I WILL KILL YOU!!" he screamed in rage as he become to strike the enemy with his sword, blow after blow, until there was nothing left of him. After that he sat on the ground, powerless and gravely wounded…

Ulairimon, who was trying to do his best, as well as the others, was beaten badly. He barely managed to evade the last strikes of the Zhuqiaomon.

"READY TO GIVE UP NOW?" his enemies' voice sounded loudly in his head. But then… he felt it. He felt the connection between him and his tamer. He felt all the pain and anger his tamer just suffered… and this… gave him enormous power.

"YOU HURT MY TAMER… I WILL DESTROY YOU." the powerful and low voice came like from beneath the surface. Ulairimon suddenly was caught in the great dark fire aura, which was getting bigger, reaching the size of the Zhuqiaomon himself.

"WHAT WAS THAT FAMILIAR VOICE?" he asked him self loudly, as the dark aura of Ulairimon started to get a straight form of a human-like figure.

"OH, NO… IT CANNOT BE…" Zhuqiaomon whispered, yet it was still loud enough for anyone to understand. The strange giant figure finally formed and entered the battlefield, surrounded by the aura of darkness and hatred, which formed the dark clouds. The sun was eclipsed by them, and it became very dark, with only Zhuqiaomon's fire aura to light up the area. It was of the size comparable to Zhuqiaomon, perhaps even bigger. It wore dark armor with a helmet… They all were black. He carried the horrible mace of dark metal, and was emanating the waves of horror and pure evil. The other two digimon witnessed this, as Gallantmon asked:

"What in heavens name happened to Ulairimon? His power is so BIG, it can even be equal to the Zhuqiaomon…"

"I have no idea, and I think that "heavens" is not the right word to describe this." MegaGargomon replied quietly. Then the dark figure levitated from the ground, and asked:

"DO YOU RECOGNIZE ME NOW, ZHUQIAOMON?"

"YOU… YOU ARE … SAURMON, THE DARK LORD OF TERROR, AND MY OLD ENEMY!! DIE!" Zhuqiaomon screamed and launched the devastating Blazing helix attack. With a horrible roar the fire went to make its target parish, but it met on its way the Infernal Dark Hurricane, which devoured it with ease and slammed hard Zhuqiaomon. He flew some distance away, and then, with the scream, or more like a shriek, flied back and slammed Saurmon, as they begun to wrestle. The vortexes of red and black energy tore the place apart, they clashed and created terrible sand storms. They struggled to destroy each other, but no one had enough strength to do so. Then the horrible voice of Saurmon screamed:

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? STRIKE THE HATED ENEMY IN THE BACK, AVENGE SAKUYAMON'S FALL!!" he screamed to Mega Gargomon and Gallantmon.

"KILL!!" screamed Gallantmon and MegaGargomon while going to attack at their maximum firepower. Their combined attack made Zhuqiaomon to consume some of his strength on defense, and Saurmon, with terrible shriek, managed to strike the fire bird down… And there was a big explosion… Zhuqiaomon managed to gather the last of his strength, what was left of it and to flee from the battlefield. MegaGargomon and Gallantmon fell to the ground, they consumed too much of their energy in the last attack, and they both have fallen apart to the regular digimon and their tamers. Ulairimon got his initial form back also, his last effort required all of his spared energy… He tried to rise up, relying on his sword, but failed, and fell to the ground. His form became unstable.

"Curses! I don't have enough energy to sustain my form… Hrrr, I'm… dying…" he hissed weakly, and noticed that someone approached him. It was Susan, she watched the battle from her shelter, and came to help after the battle was over.

"Don't die, please! We need you!" she whispered to him, as her eyes went watery.

"Who?" Ulairimon hissed even weaker. His powers left him.

"We need you! Your tamer needs you! I … need you!"

"Why?" he managed to ask and fell unconscious. Susan put her hands on his breastplate, and they started to glow. She tried to give the slowly dying digimon some of her energy, and she did it…

"Why? Because you deserve a better fate…" she whispered as she fell asleep near him. The procedure took a lot of energy too…

NZ finally managed to get up. His chest and the remains of his right arm were bleeding horribly. "I must do something to fix this, but I do not have any rubber band… Oh, I think I know what I must do…" he thought and grabbed his rifle with his healthy arm. "Laser can burn up my wound and stop bleeding." he thought and shot his in wound without hesitation… He was right, it stopped the bleeding, yet the pain was enormous. Stormtrooper screamed loud from the pain, but this scream was short. He took a painkiller tube from his med kit and injected it in his neck vein. "Ah, a little better. Now, looks like we have won. This was stronger than the planetary bombardment… Anyway, I must go and gather my friends now. It seems they all have fainted, or killed." He thought and went to check out everyone on the ground… First he gathered the children, he was able to carry only one person now, so it took him some time. Susan was far away from the others, so NZ got to her last. While he was carrying her to the big stone, he whispered:

"Thank you for saving my digimon. I will repay you somehow…" He was not sure if Susan hears him or not, but, honestly, he didn't really cared about that. He got work to do, there were still powerless digimon that needed care and protection, and he was the only one around for this mission, yet he was also badly wounded. After he was done, the tamers were all reassembled with their digimon, Rika was sleeping near her Renamon, Henry near Terriermon, Takato near Guilmon, and Ulairimon was sitting unconscious near Susan. And he even found Lopmon, who was also incapacitated. After that NZ took down his damaged chest armor, and put it near him. The wounds from the claws were not deep, so he quickly patched them up with the remains of his bacta serum, and also bandaged his remains of his right hand. "We are extremely lucky, we survived and haven't lost anyone." he thought and injected the tube with soporific medicine, and fell into heavy slumber in two minutes… The whole thing from the beginning to the end was witnessed by Calumon, who was flying above the battlefield…

Renamon was the first to wake up from slumber. She opened her eyes, and the first thing she was … Calumon. He was staring at her, waiting for her to wake up, and when she did, he jumped at her.

"Rena-chan! You're wake! I'm so glad to see you!" he shouted cheerfully. She was also very glad to see him.

"Calumon, I'm glad you are safe. We came from far away to rescue you…" she gasped.

"You won't believe what happened… There was fighting, and shouting, and screaming, and…" Calumon was talking nonstop, as always he did.

"Wait, Calumon, wait for one second, I think I am not completely awake yet." she nodded and looked around. "Henry and Terriermon are fine, Rika is fine, Takato and Guilmon are fine, just sleeping, everyone seems to be fine, and…" Renamon was not able to finish her thought in the head, when she saw the dreadful picture. It was NZ without a hand, without his chest armor, which was near him, and with bloody holes on it. Near him there was a puddle of blood… The whole thing looked like a scene from a horror show.

"Oh my god, what happened…" Renamon said in horror and approached the body. Near him she found the tubes of the medicine he used. She grabbed the remaining hand of his, and felt a slight pulse.

"Thank god, you are still alive." she mumbled.

"Rena – chan, I know what happened, I saw it all, really I did!"

"What … happened… tell … me … now…" she managed to say, she was in shock. It was the most horrible thing she ever saw in her life.

"You and the others were fighting the big red mean digimon, and you were hit, then this man came in and carried you away, then after him came three scary mean evil digimon, and he made two of them disappear. And the third big mean scary digimon bit his arm off. This man was screaming very bad words, and was hitting the big scary digimon with this thing." Calumon pointed at the sword, which was near NZ also, and continued:

"Then the scary digimon disappeared too, and there was red liquid everywhere. After that this black scary digimon turned into a very nig black digimon and fought the big red mean digimon, and defeated him, yet it didn't disappear, and then turned back to himself." he said and pointed at Ulairimon.

"After that the white-clad man stood up and carried the other friends here, and than snapped out…um… Rena – chan? Rena – chan? Why are you crying?" Calumon asked after finishing his story, which he said very fast, as usual. He noticed that from Renamon's eyes tears were falling to the ground.

"He just got hurt so badly… for us… for me… he disobeyed an order…" she said, and whipped her tears with her glove.

"Rena – chan, are you alright?" Calumon asked with concern.

"Yes, Calumon, I'm alright." she said and whipped her eyes again.

"Then why were you crying?"

"Can you do me a favor? Don't tell anyone about you just saw, alright? Let this be our little secret." she asked patiently.

"Sure thing, Rena – chan! Your secret is safe with me, I won't tell anyone." Calumon replied cheerfully. "How joyful is his existence, he is luck he doesn't know what pain is like and what is blood…" Renamon thought. She was looking at the breastplate if the stormtrooper with long narrow holes carved in it. She took both pieces, and when she did, she noticed that there was some writing on the other side of the armor plate. It said:

"Stormtrooper NZ-13 has fallen in the line of duty" and there was some space left to write the date of death. "This is not handmade, that's made while production… That means that this part of the armor is used as a gravestone for the fallen troopers… How cynical." she thought and looked at NZ again. Even though he was asleep, his face had a painful grimace, or at least the normal side of it. The other half remained motionless, as usual. Renamon sat on the other stone, her glare was blank. "Soldiers are … supposed to be expendable…" she thought while looking at NZ again. Calumon sat on her knee and asked:

"Rena – chan, are you alright? You look worried."

"Yes, Calumon, I told you that I'm alright." she replied quietly. "At least thanks to him." she added in her mind. She knew that those Vilemon, and she found out that while analyzing the markings of the claws on the armor and by the description Calumon gave, were going to finish off her and Rika.

"I'm so stupid, I should have managed to evade that shot that struck us both down in the first place…" she said.

"Rena – chan, don't blame yourself, please! You are brave and strong, it is not your fault!" Calumon tried to cheer her up. Futile… Rika managed to wake up shortly after Renamon. She saw her digimon sitting on a stone staring at something. As she came closer, she found out exactly at what Renamon was staring…

"Oh my god, what the hell happened? Is he dead?"

"No… But we both owe our lives to him…" Renamon replied sorrowfully.

"Again… That makes two times for me… We should really be more careful, before NZ loses any more limbs."

"That's not funny, Rika."

"I was not joking…" she replied, and suddenly they saw that NZ started to move. He woke up, and spotted those two observers, who were staring at his wound from some distance. H guessed that they were terrified … again.

"I'm sorry, I'll try to make it less noticeable." he said and removed his armor parts from his remaining hand, and fastened them to the part of the armor remaining on his right hand, because the arm was torn away only to the forearm, and the upper armor piece remained intact. After that he put his breastplate back on too.

"Now I cannot be as efficient as before, battle capacity reduced to 40." he added.

"Thank you for saving us… We are sorry that you ended up without a hand because of this."

"Don't worry about that, I'll find an artificial hand somewhere and will be like brand new." NZ replied carelessly. It seemed that he didn't care much about the loss of the limb. This was calming and frightening at the same time…

As the others woke up one after one, almost no one noticed that NZ was lacking an arm, but this was of no importance of the moment. Almost everyone else was celebrating the victory. But this "celebration" quickly ended… From the sky to the surface out of nowhere descended Zhuqiaomon, badly hurt, he barely was able to fly, and the fires of his spheres near the neck glowed with dim light. He was accompanied by someone else… He had a strange form, and looked like a dragon of blue color, bended with chain all over his body… His appearance was completed with the thunder bolts coming out of him.

"Azulongmon, the one of the four sovereigns and the guardian of the Eastern hemisphere… We're doomed…" Lopmon managed to say. Ulairimon took out his sword and moved forward to face the thread. But no attack followed after this appearance.

"There is he, who almost deleted me… The former servant of the Dark Lord Saurmon, whom we defeated long ago…" Zhuqiaomon said weakly.

"So, he is. Tell me, son of the darkness, since your master has fallen long ago in battle against us, and the darkness you fought for has been utterly defeated, why do you continue to wage war over these peaceful lands?" asked Azulongmon with a powerful and confident voice, and it sounded very wise. Ulairimon stood silent, quickly regaining powers, fueled by his anger, but Takato answered for him:

"He came with us to help us get our friend Calumon back, and to stop the devastating attacks of the Devas against our city back at Earth from the source!" he screamed fearlessly.

"Attacks on the human world? Is this true, Zhuqiaomon?" Azulongmon asked.

"Yes, we fought the humans that betrayed us and managed to capture the digimon that possesses the key to digievolution."

"Your misjudgment and inadequate reaction have always leaded you to trouble. In you blind hatred towards humans you forgot about the real enemy." Azulongmon replied and then said:

"Allow me to explain why we have tried to capture Calumon in the first place. You see, long ago, when we managed to defeat the dark lands leaded by Saurmon, we have encountered another thread. We don't know how it is called, therefore never tried to contact it. The truth is that thread was destroying everything on its way. We managed to stop it, but not destroy it. It required tremendous powers, the powers we don't possess. But we managed to make it sleep, and I fear that your foolish deeds may awake it, Zhuqiaomon. But I haven't finished yet, Calumon is the digimon that holds the key to the digievolution of all digimon, so we are asking you, can we extract that power from him, turning him into average digimon, and enabling the other digimon to defend themselves?" Azulongmon asked the tamers. They have agreed…

Finally, their quest to retrieve their friend was finally at an end. Now Calumon was just an average digimon, as the power he held was spread upon the Digital world. Yet now their path home was shorter, as Azulongmon agreed to carry them to the gates, from where this all started. The whole group was finally going home…

That's it. I believe that there will be one more chapter to end the story. I'm sorry for all the grammar and characteristic mistakes I made. Anyway, what's done is done.


	13. Chapter 13

A stormtrooper lost in the Digiworld Chapter 13: Never retreat, never surrender

A stormtrooper lost in the Digiworld Chapter 13: Never retreat, never surrender.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This will probably be the last chapter.

… The group was finally home, or, at least, this planet could be called "home" for the majority of the group. They were now at the office of Mr. Yamaki, the director of the organization known as Hypnos, the one that was in close touch with the tamers, and this organization's soul purpose was the defense of the Earth against the threads coming from the Digital world. And there, in the office, where almost everything was of black color, a fierce discussion took place.

…"What do you mean they can't stay? They were our friends and allies for a long time and proved their loyalty and dedication at numerous occasions! They must stay!" Takato screamed at Yamaki, who was sitting at the table with his sun glasses on, as usual.

"Calm down, Takato, there's no need to scream right now. I have a terrible headache because of this problem and your screams make it worse. Let me explain the situation. Believe me, if it would be my decision alone, I would approved it in a second. I believe you that these people are trustworthy. The problem is in the government. Because the human came from another part of the galaxy, the little girl is half – digimon, and the wraith is considered dangerous, they will consider taking the first two for medical and scientific experiments, and give an order of the destruction of the last one, because he might be considered a thread. I can pull some strings to change that, but I need time to do that."

"We understand." replied NZ without any sorrow in his voice.

"I haven't finished yet. I might have a proposition for you three. Because of the aggressive digimon coming out the four gates that lead from the Digiworld to our city, we have built 4 forts in the Digiworld to preserve them. Unfortunately, we are lacking volunteers to preserve our world there. People and even soldiers are not willing to go there. I propose you to inhabit the fort №4 and stay there for the time I'm doing my best to resolve your problem."

"We thank you, we will gladly accept your generous offer, but I can say "Yes" only for me and Ulairimon. Susan, what is your choice? I mean, it could be dangerous." NZ asked.

"I want to go with you in this exile! I won't abandon you two! And besides, Ulairimon will never let anything bad happen to me, right, Ulairimon?" she said cheerfully and grabbed Ulairimon's hand.

"Um… of course." he replied.

"Then, it is settled. One more thing remains though. What do you all need in your trip?"

"I need new battle equipment, and, well, a new arm." NZ said and removed the parts of armor that concealed his missing right arm. Everyone who hasn't noticed that earlier had their jaws dropped.

"I need nothing." Ulairimon hissed.

"Well, I believe that Susan might need some toys. She is still only a child, you know." NZ added.

"Very well, you will have these things at your disposal in short time. I'm glad we understood each other." Yamaki ended this. Then he went into another room to arrange everything, and called the "exiles" to follow him. The other tamers were dismissed. This was pretty depressing for them too. They have first encountered the heavy artillery of the state bureaucracy. As they were slowly going to their homes, Henry nodded:

"Susan said "in exile". I could not have described it better myself."

"Shut it, Henry, we are feeling horrible already, don't make it worse." Rika replied. "Exiled… Abandoned… so true…" Renamon thought while going… The next day Yamaki called everyone to the Hypnos to say goodbye to their friends, who were going to preserve the border between human world and the digital world. As the tamers went to the Hypnos, they remembered the talk between them and Yamaki they had yesterday.

"If that Yamaki won't keep his promise, he will be in big trouble." Takato said angrily.

"Calm yourself down, Gogglehead, there is no need to be infuriated now. Let's just hope for the best." Rika answered. In 30 minutes they were at the doors of Hypnos main building. Yamaki was waiting for them.

"Greetings, glad you could make it here. You came to say goodbyes, no?"

"That's correct. I have a feeling we won't see them for a while." Henry replied.

"You're right. Anyway, let's go. We don't have any time to lose." Yamaki replied, as they went inside the big structure of Hypnos facility. While going through a maze of corridors, Yamaki mentioned:

"NZ-13 has received new equipment. He is now a sergeant in Hypnos defensive force."

"Hypnos has a defensive force?" everyone asked in amazement.

"Yes, and it was my idea too. Taking in consideration NZ's battle experience, I have decided that he would be most suitable for the job. He is now commanding a platoon of troopers. I believe you will see them right about now." he replied and opened the door leading somewhere. The tamers quickly followed him in. The door appeared to lead to the departure bay. Yamaki pressed on the radio button and said:

"Platoon №13, get to the departure bay immediately."

"Affirmative, commander Yamaki. Platoon will arrive in 5 minutes." a familiar voice replied. And indeed, in exactly five minutes 10 troopers, one sergeant and one digimon arrived at the docking bay… The "show" managed to scare the guts out of Henry and Takato too. Ten soldiers in full body armor of black color, with black masks on their faces, which looked like a combination of a gas mask and a stormtrooper helmet, only a lot scarier. The lenses of the masks were glowing yellow, like the headlights of the vehicles. Also they were carrying huge Gatling machinegun – type weapons, grenades and also everyone had a sword. They were walking in unison, like a mechanism. Their commander had a red symbol on his right shoulder. The others had yellow symbols – the scull and letters D and T. Ulairimon was also with them, only now he was only left with a hood, without his typical cloak, and he also had a red symbol on his right shoulder, with letters D and C. Finally, Susan also managed to come to the bay. She was the only one left unchanged. The tamers, as well as their digimon, were amazed by this…

"Heavens, what are those?" Rika asked quietly, while looking at the platoon.

"Impressive, isn't it? The elite force created to fight digimon. My pride, the Death trooper corps. That's what the letters D and T mean. Ulairimon in the part of other forces – the Digimon corps." Yamaki said with pride in his voice.

"That's … most impressive." Renamon confirmed.

"Yes, they are armed with our last inventions in anti – digimon weaponry. The armor is also created to sustain hits of great power and speed. Actually, the other soldiers are droids, robots, but with high artificial intellect and which are capable of learning. Have superior strength, reaction and are not as fragile as humans." he continued.

"They … are … killer droids… oh my, I'm going to faint…" Takato said.

"Don't worry, they cannot harm a human, and their programming cannot be overwritten by anyone." Yamaki calmed Takato down, as well as the others. One of the troopers approached the group and said with a mechanical voice:

"Commander Yamaki, my platoon is ready for departure."

"Excellent, sergeant NZ-13, your friends came to say goodbye. After all, you will not see them for a few months. I believe that in this time I will manage to get you out of there."

"Thank you, commander Yamaki." NZ replied, and took of his new helmet. He looked at the others, and there was a bit of sorrow in his glare.

"I'm afraid I will have to go for a few months, I'm sorry."

"No need to be sorry, NZ, we know it's not your fault, good luck on the new place!" Takato replied cheerfully.

"Yeah, we won't go anywhere for these months anyway, nothing will change when you and the others will arrive back." Henry added.

"You got a job, so consider yourself lucky. Farewell." Rika nodded.

"Good bye, we will return some day." Ulairimon hissed. Their transport was about to leave, and so they have left, to the gates, to the Digiworld…

…One week has passed since the D-Reaper and his multiple minions, known as agents, attacked the town of Shinjuku. The local army and the death troopers of Yamaki, along with the tamers and the digimon, who escaped from the Digiworld, were fighting fearlessly to defend the city, but they were slowly losing ground. D-Reapers forces were strong, and overwhelmed the defenders with sheer numbers. Almost all of Shinjuku was under the D-Reaper, but the Hypnos facility still was the last line of defense. The situation was critical, as the enemy slowly advanced forward to the citadel, and Yamaki called the tamers Rika, Takato and Henry along with their digimon to his office for an emergency meeting. The structure was not as clean as before, the windows were broken, and the whole complex was heavily fortified. It was the last plot of the defenders. As the tamers got to the meeting room, they saw Yamaki. He was looking tired, but still wore sun glasses, and had a gun on his table. He was the commander of the resistance now.

He looked at the tamers with a tired glance, and said:

"We have managed to stop the enemy for some time, and he has suffered heavy casualties. Now he is regrouping his forces. So we have some time to do the mission I have for you. Confirming to our scout droids, the enemy forces are coming to this world through the three gates. Do you understand what that means?" he asked.

"No, we don't commander Yamaki. Explain us." asked Rika Nonaka, who already was a lieutenant of the Hypnos Digimon corps.

"I'll explain. The enemy receives reinforcements from the three gates. But there are four gates leading to our town. The forth gate is left untouched. I haven't received any radio transmissions yet, but I have a hunch that the fort №4 is still holding ground. I am sending you all to find out if this hunch is correct or not, and if it is, I want you to escort the survivors here. We need every soldier we can get to defend the city. You have one week for the task. Dismissed." he ended the meeting. The tamers went out of the meeting room to the docking bay, Rika said:

"Fort №4… Fort №4… Oh my god… How could we have forgotten so fast! That's the fort where Ulairimon, NZ and Susan were sent!"

"That means … that they are alive! We must rescue them as soon as possible!" Takato said happily. Even such drastic position on the front was not able to break his optimism.

"But I don't understand one thing… if we, the army and Yamaki's elite division lost 2/3 of the city in 3 weeks, how could one stormtrooper, one digimon and 10 droid soldiers hold against the ¼ of the D-Reaper invasion force?" Henry asked.

"I don't know exactly, but I hope they have survived." Rika replied.

"Me too…" Renamon added. The whole group forgot about their friends away as soon as the attack over Shinjuku has begun. But now the light of hope was in their hearts, as everyone hoped for a miracle they their friends still live, and fight, and that they must help them. The transport was prepared in an hour, and the squad was sent to get their friends back, dead or alive. In two days, they were at the gates.

"Well, that's it guys, good luck, we will be here every day waiting for you to arrive from the Digiworld for a whole week. We want to see the heroes who held against the enemy for that long…" said the driver of the armored vehicle.

"Thanks. I hope you will see them soon." Rika replied as they went in…

When they first went through that gate to the Digiworld, they have landed on the green grass, and near was the forest, the beautiful lake, sunshine etc. That was heaven on Earth, well, on Digiworld. Now the meadow welcomed them the other way than before. The ground was burned. It was severely burned, and not with the regular fire, it was burned with the fire which melted the ground like sugar, the dark fire. The forest was no more, only few burned trees lifelessly stood on the place of a beautiful forest – the home of many digimon. The lake was filled not with water, but with something rotten and slimy of green color. The stench of burning organic corpses was in the air. The sun was eclipsed with the clouds of fumes, and it was almost as dark as when the night came over. Only now there were no stars, no sun, no grass, no life, no nothing. The picture of a complete misery and death was under their eyes.

"What have they done to the place? It's horrible…" Takato whispered.

"I don't know, but we will make the D-Reaper pay…" Henry said, as his hand formed a fist. And in the center of this destruction stood the remains of the bunker complex, the fort. The 2/3 of it were turned to rubble, but what was left of it was still standing. When they approached the fort, the terrain became more rugged. There were funnels from explosions everywhere on the ground, and the ground was covered with some burned slime.

"The remains of the agents…They have met quite a resistance here. Our friends really held on…" Renamon nodded sorrowfully.

"Yeah, no joke. It's like there was a great battle over here…" Rika added. When they came to the remains of the fort, they saw more burned marks on the ground, and also two bodies of the death troopers, which were torn asunder.

"That's where Ulairimon fought. I will recognize these marks of his dark vortex anywhere." Renamon stated confidently.

"I sense … death within this place. Creepy…" Terriermon added. Guilmon was shaking like a leaf, yet he tried to comprehend his fear, but the whole place was like a necropolis. Finally, they came to the remaining structure standing. The door was torn away with the piece of the wall, and also two droids were found dead near the door. They were resisting in this fortified position, and got destroyed.

"If our friends are alive, this is the only place where could they be." Guilmon said quietly. They have approached the structure with caution. There were no lights inside, and the building looked abandoned.

"I'll go check it out." Renamon said.

"Just be careful, Rena, I don't want to lose you." Rika said.

"Don't worry, Rika, I will." she said and entered the dark building… And ran outside even quicker than she entered, evading the dozen of bullets flying in their direction. After that there was a scream from inside the building:

"DIE, ENEMY! WE WILL NEVER SURRENDER, YOU HEAR! NEVER!!" After that there was silence. The scream was full of pain and hatred, it almost made everyone pee their pants. But this tortured voice was … familiar.

"That's NZ, I have recognized him…" Renamon reported.

"Holy …, what happened here? I have never heard him in such rage." Henry asked.

"Maybe that's because of the sleepless nights they were fighting… And of the thought that they are stranded." Renamon proposed, and suddenly something fell out of her glove. It was a commlink NZ gave her long ago. The others stared at it for next three minutes.

"I wonder if he keeps his old commlink, we might contact him if he kept it…"

"Great idea, I think he won't believe it's us if we say it to him now… He will think we are enemies who are trying to fool him… I wonder if he didn't go crazy…" Rika replied sorrowfully. Renamon turned on her commlink, and said in it:

"NZ! NZ-13! Respond! NZ, do you copy? This is Renamon!" for the next few minutes there was no answer, but then a weak, yet recognizable voice came out of the commlink:

"Renamon? Commander Renamon, is that you, or it's just a trick of my sick mind?"

"It's me, lieutenant Renamon of the Hypnos Digimon corps, your friend. Rika, Henry, Takato and their digimon are here also. We came to rescue you."

"It's you… It's finally you… I always believed you all will come to get us out some day…" the weakened voice came out of the commlink. The group was horrified how weak the voice of the unbending soldier they always knew. The group has entered the building with caution again, only this time they were not shot by friendly fire. Suddenly they have heard a sad song. It was Susan singing, she was still in her white clothing, glowing like a ghoul in the darkness.

"We've held on too long just to let it go now  
Will my inner strength get me through it somehow  
Defying the death that has taken hold  
Never surrender… Never surrender…"

Susan didn't notice the tamers yet. NZ was standing near the fortified mounted machinegun, and Ulairimon was standing next to him. Rika turned on her flashlight to see everything. And they saw it… NZ was barely standing, holding on to some sort of a crutch, with large holes on his armor, and the whole thing looked like it was run over by a tank. The glass of his visor on the helmet was broken, and through it the red light came out, but it was very weak. Ulairimon was pretty beat also, he had more gaps and holes in his armor, and the remains of his cloak were burned. But the most … shocking picture was Susan … holding a sniper rifle. The tamers stood frozen still, as the trio of survivors made their way towards them. Renamon was the first to come out of shock.

"What are you guys waiting for? Let's go help them!" she shouted to get the others out of shock, and then helped NZ to walk out of their shelter. The others snapped out of shock too and started helping out. On the way to the exit NZ whispered to Renamon:

"Thank you for help…"

"It is we who should be thanking you all. You have managed to hold off and destroy ¼ of the enemy attack force. If it was not for you all, we could have never held the city… and besides, you helped me far more times…" she replied, as they have got out of the building and made their way back to the gates…

When they got out, the drivers were already waiting for them at their armored vehicle.

"So these are our heroes, who held for 2 weeks against the enemy and stayed alive! I am truly amazed. Anyway, I have news for you! You don't know what you have missed!" the driver said very happily.

"And what have we missed?" Rika asked with suspicion.

"Everything! We have won! The war is over! The D – Reaper and its forces are no more!"

"NO WAY! YOU MUST BE JOKING! HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?" everyone asked in amazement. The driver gave him a clever smirk and said:

"Just look in the skies!" and everyone looked up. The sky was filled with triangle-shaped ships, and in the center was flying the biggest triangle ship.

"WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THIS?" everyone asked. But NZ, when he saw this, smiled like he never did before, and rose up from the ground without any assistance. His remaining human eye was glowing like a flashlight.

"I will recognize this ship anywhere. It is the pride and might of the Imperial star fleet, the flag ship of Lord Vader himself, the all-mighty star destroyer named Executor." NZ said proudly.

"That's right, buddy. Planet Earth is now officially a part of the Galactic Empire. Imperial stormtroopers have landed and destroyed the forces of the D – Reaper, and after that Lord Vader destroyed the D – Reaper itself." the driver replied, while going back to the town of Shinjuku…

When they have arrived to the city, it was totally under control of the Imperial ground forces. Columns of white-clad troopers marched everywhere in the city, patrolling. At the Hypnos Yamaki was already waiting. Everyone was surprised that now Yamaki was wearing the uniform of the imperial officer, and had a shiny medal on his chest.

"Good day, squad, congratulations on the job well done."

"Yamaki, you are now an imperial officer?"

"Yes, I am. And I was awarded for holding the city. Also the survivors of the fort №4 are awarded with a house in the town of Shinjuku and medals for their heroic efforts. Also I have some news for you, stormtrooper NZ-13 of the Imperial army. Your position in the ranks of the 501st legion was restored. They will depart tomorrow."

"Thank you, sir!" NZ replied in his military manner.

The next day all tamers came to say goodbyes to the stormtrooper, who was going far away again. They were supposed to go on sunset, and it was rather beautiful. The good old white – clad trooper took his helmet away, and said sorrowfully:

"I will never forget you, my friends. Unfortunately, I have to go now. I have my duty to the Empire, to protect peace and order."

"When you will return?" Susan asked.

"In three years I will be too old to be a stormtrooper, and then I will return. Now I have where to return… Susan, I believe I must give you this…" he said and gave her his D – Power and his deck of cards.

"I will be going very far away, so, now you will be Ulairimon's tamer."

"Me? But why? I won't be able to…" she mumbled, but then felt Ulairimon's hand on her shoulder.

"I think you will do fine. I believe in you." Ulairimon said softly. It made Susan blush.

"Farewell, my friends. I will return in 3 years. I promise that. But, as for now, duty calls. Farewell…" NZ said, put his helmet back on, and disappeared in the straight and solid flow of white-clad same – faced troopers, who were coming to their ships.

"Goodbye, NZ, be careful!" Takato and Henry shouted both.

"We will be waiting!" Susan screamed.

In the last beams of the sunset that flow of white armor shining was looking both beautiful and impressive. "Goodbye, stormtrooper NZ-13 of the Imperial army. Since when we have met you, your deeds have changed our life forever. I remember well all the times you helped each and every one of us, even if it was dangerous. You have become our friend, and we will never forget you… NZ, you are special. Maybe some day I will be brave enough to say you that, but when you were around, I have always felt that I have someone by my side. I felt safe and I had no worries for my tamer… And you always were near to help us, to help me… I don't know what that feeling is, and how it is called, but I feel that for me you have become more than just a friend… But for now, I just will wait… Some day…" thought Renamon, as she watched the white column disappear in the last lights of the sunset, and one tear fell to the ground from her ice - blue eye. The last one…

"About what are you thinking, Renamon?" Rika asked quietly.

"I think that these three years will not pass quickly…" she replied, as they went back to their house. The life had to go on…

Epilogue: after three years…

The story about a soldier, a wraith and an orphan girl… Three sorrowful souls, brought together by fate…

It was Friday…The life has returned to normal in the town of Shinjuku since that fateful day. Rika, Takato and Henry were going from school, accompanied by their digimon, and have stopped at Susan's house, which was given to them by the authorities for their valor in the defense of the city. Ulairimon was living in that house also. The tamers now lived peaceful lives, as the D- Reaper was destroyed, and a peace treaty was signed between the Empire and the Digiworld, and they have stopped at Susan's house to have some tea. They were all invited. It was a tradition to come over to Susan's place for a cup of tea every Friday though.

"Hello, Susan! We have arrived!" shouted Rika.

"One moment! The tea is almost ready!" Susan screamed from the kitchen. She has entered the common life perfectly, and was going to school with the rest of the gang. Henry, Rika, Takato, Susan, Renamon, Guilmon, Terriermon. They were about to start the tea ceremony. Ulairimon didn't participated, as usual, for obvious reasons. But suddenly the door bell rang.

"Ulairimon! Can you open the door, please?" Susan asked.

"Sure, what ever." he replied and went to open the door… He returned to the kitchen in a moment and said only this:

"My master … has arrived..." and before anyone managed to react, he came into the kitchen also. He was not wearing his standard white armor, but the black uniform of the imperial officer. The red eye was glowing brighter then usual. NZ came in the kitchen and said quietly:

"The war is over for me now… I'm … home…"

THE END.

Finally, I have finished this thing. Now I'm not afraid of anything. I can only hope that I have managed to satisfy the readers with my story. Sorry for any mistakes, characterization errors, etc. Also hoping to recieve some reviews about my work.


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